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- On Saturday, May 24, 1997, 9:00 a.m. CDT, STS-84 MCC Status Report # 19 reports:
- The Shuttle Atlantis, carrying seven astronauts including Jerry Linenger, glided to a delayed, but smooth landing this morning at the Kennedy Space Center to wrap the sixth docking mission to the Russian Mir Space Station and the delivery of astronaut Mike Foale for the start of his four month tour of duty.
- It was the eighth straight Shuttle landing at the Florida spaceport.
- After passing up the first landing opportunity of the day because of clouds over KSC, Commander Charlie Precourt and Pilot Eileen Collins guided Atlantis to a textbook touchdown at 8:28 a.m. Central time on runway 33 to wrap up a 3.6 million mile mission to bring Linenger home after 132 days in space. Linenger's voyage, which began with his launch to the Mir in January, was the second longest single spaceflight in U.S. history.
- Thick clouds prevented Atlantis from coming home on the first chance for landing, but the skies cleared in time one orbit later, and Precourt fired the ship's braking rockets, enabling Atlantis to drop out of orbit for its high speed return to Earth. Atlantis passed over the Northwest U.S., the Plains states and the Southeast before entering Florida air space for its homecoming.
- The astronauts were scheduled to return to their crew quarters about an hour after landing, where Linenger was to begin extensive medical tests as part of his post-flight rehabilitation to readapt to the effects of gravity following his long stint in orbit.
- Atlantis' astronauts will remain at the Kennedy Space Center.tonight to relax before returning to Houston Sunday afternoon to a homecoming at Ellington Field.
Return to STS-84 Mission Summary - On Saturday, May 24, 1997, 9:00 a.m. CDT, STS-84 MCC Status Report # 19 reports: