STS-79 Day 3 Highlights

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On Wednesday, September 18, 1996, 6:00 a.m. CDT, STS-79 MCC Status Report # 5 reports:

Atlantis' six astronauts wrapped up another busy day on orbit activating experiments in the SPACEHAB module while attending to final preparations for tonight's docking to the Mir Space Station. The crew will move into its rendezvous timeline early this evening as the Shuttle nears the Russian outpost.

The crew is scheduled to go to sleep about 9 a.m. Central time and will wake up about 4 p.m. for the final hours of rendezvous and docking, which should occur about 10:13 tonight. The hatches between the joined spacecraft are scheduled to be opened shortly after 12:30 AM Thursday morning. After initial safety briefings, U.S. astronauts Shannon Lucid and John Blaha will officially trade places as Mir crew members when their custom-fitted Soyuz capsule seat liners are swapped. That activity will officially mark the point when Blaha will become a Mir-22 flight engineer and Lucid will join the STS-79 crew as a mission specialist, ending her six-month stay on the space station.

Blaha will join Mir 22 Commander Valery Korzun and his flight engineer, Alexander Kaleri, aboard Mir for the next four months. Blaha will be replaced by astronaut Jerry Linenger on Atlantis' next visit scheduled for early January 1997 on mission STS-81.

While STS-79 Commander Bill Readdy and Pilot Terry Wilcutt conducted two rendezvous burns today, other crew members worked in the SPACEHAB module on science experiments.

The Active Rack Isolation System, or ARIS, was tended to by Mission Specialist Carl Walz, who performed a minor maintenance procedure on one of ARIS' vibration-damping pushrods while Tom Akers worked with an inventory management system using a bar code reader to more effectively keep track of items that will be transferred back and forth between the Shuttle and the Mir. Jay Apt continued work with a furnace which heats to nearly 1,600 degrees centigrade to melt metal samples for study after the flight.

Apt also provided a television tour of the SPACEHAB, which is twice its normal size for this flight to allow extra room for science experiments and logistical items slated for transfer to Mir.

Atlantis' current orbit is 184 by 158 statute miles, as it closes its distance from the Mir by more than 500 miles with each revolution of the Earth.

On Wednesday, September 18, 1996, 5:00 p.m. CDT, STS-79 MCC Status Report # 6 reports:

All systems are "go" for Atlantis' to dock with Mir at 10:13 p.m. CDT tonight, effecting the first exchange of American researchers on the Russian Space Station.

During the Mission Control-Houston planning shift, Flight Director Bill Reeves shared status reports with Mission Control-Moscow Shift Flight Director Viktor Shadrin. The two flight directors agreed that both vehicles and crews are ready to begin the rendezvous.

Atlantis' astronauts were awakened at 4 p.m. CDT to the song "Hold On (I'm Coming)" performed by Sam and Dave. The crew then began moving into its rendezvous timeline.

At 5 p.m. Atlantis was approximately 400 nautical miles away from Mir and closing on the space station at 335 nautical miles each orbit. A reaction control system engine firing scheduled at 6 p.m. will begin slowing Atlantis' approach. Another engine firing at 7:30 p.m. will put Atlantis on an intercepting path that will place it 1,000 feet below Mir at 8:54 p.m. CDT. Commander Bill Readdy and Pilot Terry Wilcutt will then maneuver Atlantis to within 170 feet of Mir, where the shuttle will stop to allow Mission Control Centers in Houston and Moscow to evaluate their spacecrafts' systems. Readdy then will gently move Atlantis to within 30 feet of the orbiting outpost, where he will again stop and await a final "go" for docking.

Atlantis and Mir will be over Moldavia in the Carpathian Mountains region at the scheduled docking time.

The hatches between the joined spacecraft are scheduled to be opened shortly after 12:30 a.m. CDT Thursday. After safety briefings for each crew, U.S. Astronauts Shannon Lucid and John Blaha will trade places as Mir crew members when their custom-fitted Soyuz capsule seat liners are swapped. At that point, Blaha will begin calling Mir his "home" spacecraft and Luid will join the STS-79 crew as a mission specialist, ending her six-month stay on the space station.

Blaha will join Mir 22 Commander Valery Korzun and his flight engineer, Alexander Kaleri, aboard Mir for the next four months. His replacement will be Astronaut Jerry Linenger, scheduled to arrive on Atlantis' next visit scheduled for early January 1997 on mission STS-81.

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