HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Today marks the fifth anniversary of U.S. astronaut Norm Thagard's voyage aboard a Russian rocket. We look back at that mission in this edition of "CNN 20."</s>ANNOUNCER: Bringing you the world for 20 years, this is CNN.</s>LINDEN SOLES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, in more of the spirit of cooperation, a Russian rocket was launched early Tuesday carrying two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we have launch of the Mir 18 mission.</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: The fact that a U.S. astronaut was riding into orbit aboard a Soyuz rocket was an incredible moment in time. Norm Thagard, a veteran astronaut with four shuttle missions behind him, was on his way to spend a stint on the Russian space station Mir. The fact that he was coupled with a Russian crew really signaled the end of the Cold War in space as well as the end of the Cold War in many other ways. A lot of symbolism involved in this flight.</s>NORM THAGARD, ASTRONAUT: I'm awfully happy that I have the opportunity to do it. That will be a real thrill for me to do that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It proves, I think, the fundamental principle that the Cold War is over and that cooperation between Russia and the United States in extremely important areas can take place.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It was a nail-biter from the first grainy television transmission from space as the two floating spacecraft prepared to dock.</s>O'BRIEN: The idea was to try to understand a lot of things about how space stations might operate, but more importantly, how the Russians and the U.S. could work together after so many years of animosity.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There a big plans for this joint venture in the heavens, and it won't be long before the next historic international effort.
CNN 20: U.S. Astronaut Orbits on Russian Spacecraft, March 14, 1995