STS-84 Day 3 Highlights

Back to STS-84 Flight Day 02 Highlights:

On Saturday, May 17, 1997, 5:00 a.m. CDT, STS-84 MCC Status Report # 5 reports:

Space Shuttle Atlantis and Space Station Mir joined together for the sixth time last night with a flawless docking which occurred at 9:33 p.m. Central time over the Adriatic Sea. Ten astronauts and cosmonauts greeted one another and then began the business of transferring about 7,000 pounds of food, water, experiments and other supplies to each other's spacecraft..

Commander Charlie Precourt guided Atlantis to its docking with the Mir to cap off a 42-hour chase which began with the Shuttle's launch, and less than two hours later, at 11:25 p.m., the hatches between the two space vehicles swung open. Precourt greeted Mir 23 Commander Vasily Tsibliev and, after embraces and handshakes, the crew members made their way into the Mir Core Module for a brief welcoming ceremony. During the ceremony, the Shuttle crew gave Tsibliev and Flight Engineer Alexander Lazutkin baseball caps emblazoned with the STS-84 crew insignia as well as the traditional Russian offering of bread, tea and salt. Then, the ten astronauts and cosmonauts got down to business, first conducting a joint safety briefing to familiarize themselves with each other's craft.

Among the first 'items' to be transferred to the station was U.S. astronaut Mike Foale, who swapped places with Jerry Linenger to maintain a permanent American presence in space which now has stretched to 14 months. The transfer of Foale's custom-made Soyuz capsule seatliner marked the official start of Foale's tour of duty. At the same time, Linenger became a Shuttle crew member once again, having spent 123 days as a Mir crew member following his arrival on the Russian outpost in January. Linenger will have spent just over 132 days in space if Atlantis lands next Saturday as is currently scheduled.

Foale will be a member of both the Mir-23 and Mir-24 crews until he is relieved by astronaut Wendy Lawrence on Atlantis' next visit to the Mir in late September.

Running ahead of schedule, the astronauts also reported the successful transfer of a new."Elektron" oxygen-generating unit from Atlantis' SPACEHAB module to the Kvant-1 module on the Mir. That unit is being installed as a backup to the operational Elektron in the Kvant-2 module to augment the Mir's oxygen generation capability.

Atlantis' astronauts will begin an extended 10-hour sleep period at 10:08 a.m. Central time this morning. They will be awakened at 8:08 p.m. to continue their joint work with their Russian counterparts and Foale, highlighted by the transfer of a new Elektron oxygen generating unit from Atlantis' SPACEHAB module to the Mir, where it will be installed by Tsibliev and Flight Engineer Alexander Lazutkin early Sunday morning. The new unit, which will reside in the Kvant-1 module to be used as a backup to the Elektron unit operating in the Kvant-2 module, will be activated for a few minutes Sunday evening. Meanwhile, Foale and Linenger will continue a series of handover briefings to acquaint Foale with his home for the next four months.

On Saturday, May 17, 1997, 7:00 a.m. CDT, STS-84 MCC Status Report # 6 reports:

The crews aboard the joint Shuttle-Mir complex are scheduled to be awakened this evening at 8:08 p.m. CDT to begin their second day of docked operations.

Earlier today at 9:15 a.m. CDT, the exchange of NASA astronauts serving aboard Mir took place as STS-84 crew member Mike Foale officially became a member of the Mir 23 crew. NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger, who served aboard Mir for 123 days, is now a member of STS-84 Commander Charlie Precourt's crew, serving as Mission Specialist.

After they get through post-sleep activities, the STS-84 and Mir 23 crews will continue the transfer of items between the two spacecraft. Precourt and Pilot Eileen Collins will conduct a photo survey of the Mir station. Mission Specialist Jean-Francois Clervoy will continue work with Biorack - the primary science payload being carried in the Spacehab module. Elena Kondakova also will work with some Biorack experiments and will take environmental samples before helping with Mir transfer activities. Carlos Noriega will perform a check of some experiments being carried in the middeck and Ed Lu will activate a radiation monitor experiment. Foale and Linenger will continue their handover discussions to help Foale prepare for his 4 ½ month stay aboard Mir.

Early tomorrow morning, Precourt and Mir 23 Commander Vasily Tsibliev will answer qustions from CBS Correspondent Bill Harwood. That interview is scheduled to take place at 5:48 a.m. CDT.

Systems onboard the Atlantis-Mir complex continue to work normally as it circles the Earth every 92 minutes at an altitude of 248 x 234 statute miles.

Go to STS-84 Flight Day 4 Highlights: