Death-defying cosmonaut is crew’s lucky charm

Death-defying cosmonaut is crew’s lucky charm

By Marcia Dunn

The Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ­ On his first trip into orbit,
Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov almost crashed into a space
station. Five months later, he was catapulted off an exploding
rocket. Another time, he had to abort a spacewalk when a wrench
broke.

Who would want to fly with this guy? Five NASA astronauts for
starters. They consider Titov a good-luck charm. After all, he’s
still around to talk about his space misadventures.

The six are scheduled to board Discovery early Thursday on a
mission to rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir. Titov
will become only the second Russian to fly on a U.S. space
shuttle.

"All the time I said I have good luck because we have two times
for bad accident," Titov said. "Is good luck or bad luck? OK, bad
luck if crew has died. That’s bad luck."

Titov, 48, a cosmonaut since 1976 and a Russian Air Force
colonel, has been waiting for this moment for more than three
years.

Titov and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev moved to Houston in
1992 to train at Johnson Space Center as part of an
astronaut-cosmonaut exchange. Krikalev flew on Discovery in
February 1994; Titov was his backup.

Titov will talk via radio to the three cosmonauts aboard Mir as
Discovery flies within 35 feet of the 100-ton station. NASA wants
the practice before space shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir in June;
that will be the first of seven Atlantis-Mir dockings.

During the eight-day flight, Titov will use the shuttle robot
arm to release a science satellite and move two spacewalkers around
the cargo bay.

Titov has far more experience than his American crewmates: He
has spent 368 days in orbit, 366 of them on a single mission.

"He does not push anything of his experience on us. We have to
actually draw it out of him," said astronaut Michael Foale.