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suspected it was the reason she had married Vladimir.
    “They should have never included a woman,” Endicott said. “The potential complications introduced by sexual relationships between crew members could prove detrimental.”
    “She is married,” Nelson said.
    “That only makes it worse.” Carter was chewing a dried peach. “The
Druzhba
is only so big. By the end of two years the men will be at each other’s throats trying to get into her pants. Except for her husband. He’ll be at their throats trying to keep them out.”
    Nelson interrupted the discussion by glancing at his watch and declaring in a loud voice that lunch was over.
    “S
okop
, this is
Unity
, initiate roll maneuver,” Carter instructed. “Twenty-five meters and closing.”
    “Initiating fourteen-point-two-degree roll,” came the response over the intercom in a thick Russian accent. It belonged to the pilot of the Russian Space Shuttle
Sokop
. The
Sokop
was making its approach for a soft dock with the space station.
    “
Sokop
, you’re coming in high. Correct pitch by zero-point-three degrees.”
    “Correcting pitch.”
    “
Sokop
, hold your position at seventeen meters,” Carter said.
    “Holding position.”
    “Extending the MSC arm,” Carter announced. “Prepare for soft dock.”
    A long, robotic manipulator arm slowly unfolded from the Mobile Service Center of the space station and reached out to snag the Russian shuttle. The metallic appendage was capable of handling a two-hundred-thousand-pound load. Television cameras served as the eyes for the arm and were located at the elbow and wrist joints. At the far end of the arm was the capture mechanism, a hollow tube that resembled a fingerless stump, inside of which were three wires that crossed to form a triangle. When a grapple was placed inside the stump, a ring attached to the wires would rotate, shrinking the triangle until the wires were tightly wrapped around the grapple.
    Carter maneuvered the arm with a joysticklike control. The control was connected to a panel cluttered with an assortment of dials and switches. When turned, the dial marked JOINT
    would activate a different section of the arm, which could then be manipulated through the joystick. Carter viewed the two monitors to his right as he carefully extended the mechanical arm toward the Russian craft. He had practiced the soft-docking maneuvers in the simulator the day before. This was his first actual docking, and, as far as he could determine, there was no detectable difference from the simulator.
    When the robotic arm was within two meters of the Russian shuttle, Carter stopped its forward motion. He activated the wrist joint. The capture mechanism swung back and forth, allowing the camera mounted on the mechanism to scan the hull. Carter located the grapple and slowly moved the arm forward. He stopped chewing his gum as the two came in contact. Because of the enormous mass involved, the slightest miscalculation could severely damage the robotic arm.
    “The grapple is secured,” Carter said. “Commencing approach.”
    He adjusted the sensitivity of the joystick and slowly pulled it back. At first the movement was imperceptible. But then, after a few seconds, the two ships began to visibly close. The robotic arm brought the Russian shuttle to within a meter of the space station.
    “Prepare for docking,” Carter said, and resumed chewing his gum.
    The Russians extended the cylindrical docking adaptor, through which the cosmonauts would crawl to reach the space station, and mated it to the adaptor on the
Unity
. Neither adaptor was male or female. The sexless coupling had evolved from the universal docking mechanism introduced in the mid-seventies during a joint mission between the Soviet Union and the United States, when both nations mutually realized that neither wanted to be identified with the receiving end. The delicate issue was skirted as the obvious benefits of a universal mechanism became apparent. Any