
This view of the Space Shuttle Atlantis still connected to Russia’s Mir Space Station was photographed by the Mir-19 crew on July 4, 1995.
While current U.S. and Russian relations may be less than stellar, the two nations do have a history of hospitality. The past several decades have shown that common ground for our two nations is often about 230 miles above the surface of the Earth.
In the Glasscock School, we recently uncovered some evidence of our contribution to this international success. The following article, originally featured in Rice News on July 27, 1995, tells the story of more than 2,000 NASA personnel who took a Rice Continuing Studies course on bridging cultural differences. These lessons, in turn, were used to negotiate relations between Russian and American space agencies and in the successful docking of the space shuttle Atlantis with the Mir Space Station.