A new era of world cooperation in space began when Discovery lifted off at 12:22 a.m. on February 3, 1995. The shuttle would rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir, coming within 37 feet of the outpost. Discovery deployed and retrieved the Spartan 204 spacecraft and carried the Spacehab module. The mission was led by commander Jim Wetherbee, with pilot Eileen Collins, the first female pilot in the U.S. space program, and mission specialists Mike Foale, Janice Voss, Bernard Harris and Vladimir Titov.