Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev flew aboard Discovery on the first joint Russian/American mission since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Discovery launched at 7:10 a.m. on February 3, 1994. The mission featured the commercial Spacehab module and the first flight of the Wake Shield Facility designed to grow ultra-pure thin film materials in the vacuum of space. However, problems prevented its release. The crew was commander Charlie Bolden, with pilot Ken Reightler and mission specialists Jan Davis, Ron Sega, Franklin Chang-Diaz and Krikalev.