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- On Thursday, September 26, 1996, 8:00 a.m. CDT, STS-79 MCC Status Report # 21 reports:
- The Space Shuttle Atlantis glided into the Kennedy Space Center.at 7:13 a.m. CDT today, marking the end of the fourth docking flight with Mir and the end of Shannon Lucid's record setting 188 day stay on board the Russian space station.
- Commander Bill Readdy and Pilot Terry Wilcutt fired Atlantis' braking rockets at 6:06 a.m. CDT to enable the shuttle to drop out of orbit for its hour-long slide back to Earth. Atlantis streaked across the Pacific Ocean, western Canada, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan and the Chicago area before gliding over Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas then traveling into Florida and landing on runway 15. Atlantis originally had been slated to land on runway 33 but mission managers changed the designated runway after reviewing winds aloft.
- The two auxiliary power units on board Atlantis used to support the landing performed well and as expected. Auxiliary power unit #2 which had shutdown prematurely just after Atlantis launched on Sept. 16 was not started to support landing.
- Following the landing, veteran space traveler Shannon Lucid began a series of medical evaluations and data collection in support of her historic, record breaking flight. Atlantis traveled about 3.9 million miles during its 10 day flight. Because the landing occurred at the end of the crew's work day, the six astronauts will remain in Florida overnight and will return to Ellington Field in Houston in mid- to late afternoon Friday.
Return to STS-79 Mission Summary - On Thursday, September 26, 1996, 8:00 a.m. CDT, STS-79 MCC Status Report # 21 reports: