Personal: Male. Born in Russia.

Boris N. Yeltsin became leader of Russia in the immediate post-Cold War era in the early 1990s and carried even further democratic reforms than had his predecessor, Mikhail Gorbachev. One of his principle objectives was closer ties to the West, and under his leadership the international partnership to build a space station came much closer to reality.

• Launius, Roger D, NASA Chief Historian, NASA History Office Home Page, . Accessed at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/index.html.