STS-84 Day 1 Highlights

On Thursday, May 15, 1997, 5:00 a.m. CDT, STS-84 MCC Status Report # 1 reports:

The Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off precisely on schedule at 3:08 a.m. CDT today after a smooth and uneventful countdown. The ascent phase was completely nominal, as were the early phases of on-orbit operations. Forty-five minutes after launch, the vehicle's Orbital Maneuvering System engines were fired to circularize Atlantis' orbit at 185 statute miles. Payload bay door opening followed shortly thereafter.

At the time of launch, the Russian space station, Mir, was approximately 11,500 miles west of Australia. It was approximately one hour after launch that the Russian control center was able to advise the Mir crew of the successful launch of Atlantis. Jerry Linenger, the U.S. astronaut member of the Mir crew, responded to the news with the exclamation,."That's great!"

After configuring Atlantis for on-orbit operations, the crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period shortly after 8 a.m. CDT. Atlantis will continue its pursuit of Mir throughout today and tomorrow, culminating with rendezvous and docking with Mir at 9:34 p.m. CDT Friday.

On Thursday, May 15, 1997, 6:00 p.m. CDT, STS-84 MCC Status Report # 2 reports:

The STS-84 crew were awakened this afternoon to begin their first full day in space as Atlantis continued its pursuit of the Mir space station. At the time of wake up, the Shuttle was approximately 5,800 nautical miles away from the orbiting Russian facility, closing at a rate of approximately 350 n.m. every orbit.

In a salute to the on-time start and smooth operation so far in the flight, Mission Control chose Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines played by The American Military Band as the wake up music to begin the STS-84 crew's second day in space.

The main focus of flight day two will be the checkout of the docking system and support equipment that will be used during tomorrow night's rendezvous and docking with Mir.

Among the docking preparation activities this evening and early tomorrow morning, will be the installation of the center line camera in the Orbiter Docking System. That device will provide Commander Precourt additional insight as he makes the final approach to the station. The crew also will extend the capture ring on the docking system to verify it is healthy and ready to support mate operations, test the hand-held laser device used for range and closure rates with the Mir and set up the laptop computers which provide rendezvous data.

In addition to preparing for the docking with Mir, the crew will also begin activities with Biorack - the main science payload aboard Atlantis. Biorack is a multi-purpose unit that provides temperature controlled environments, centrifuges for simulating gravity and a protected workspace for specimen handling. Investigations in the Biorack facility include studies on plant growth, changes in several generations of a single-celled organism grown during the flight, changes in the components of white blood cells in a weightless environment and monitoring the radiation environment in the spacecraft

Early tomorrow morning, the crew will conduct an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). That interview is planned to take place at 2:48 a.m. CDT.

The STS-84 crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 8:08 a.m. tomorrow morning. Following an eight hour sleep period, they will be awakened at 3:08 p.m. tomorrow afternoon to begin the final portion of the rendezvous with Mir. Docking of the two spacecraft is targeted for 9:34 p.m. CDT tomorrow evening.

Atlantis continues to orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 185 x 166 statute miles with all of the Shuttle's systems operating in excellent condition.

Go to STS-84 Flight Day 2 Highlights: