STS-86
Report # 17 
Friday, October 3, 1997 -- 6:30 p.m. CDT 
 
  After executing a textbook fly-around to view damaged areas of the
Spektr module on the Mir Space Station, Atlantis' astronauts separated
from the Russian complex this afternoon, leaving behind U.S. Astronaut
Dave Wolf and tons of logistical supplies and water for the next four
months of scientific research.

  Atlantis undocked from the Mir one orbit later than originally
planned, at 12:28 p.m. CDT, as the two vehicles flew over southeast
Russia just north of Mongolia. The delay in undocking was the result
of a request by Russian flight controllers to enable the Mir
cosmonauts to finish installing and testing a new data relay unit in
the Kvant-1 module. The relay unit is designed to transmit commands
from Mir's new central computer to Kvant for operation of its
automatic attitude control devices and its navigation antenna, which
is used for automatic dockings of Progress resupply vehicles.
  
  Pilot Mike Bloomfield flew Atlantis to a point 600 feet beneath and
in front of the Russian station to gather data from a European Space
Agency navigation sensor in the shuttle's cargo bay. Bloomfield then
brought Atlantis back to a point just 240 feet from Mir where he began
his fly-around of the station.

  Aboard Mir, Commander Anatoly Solovyev opened a pressure valve in
the station's node, blowing air into the depressurized Spektr
module. Mission Specialist Vladimir Titov aboard Atlantis and Flight
Engineer Pavel Vinogradov aboard Mir both reported seeing particles
seeping from the base of the damaged solar array on Spektr. Russian
flight controllers suspect it is the most likely location for a hull
breach as the result of a June 25 collision of a Progress vehicle with
Mir.

  A second pulse of air into Spektr 20 minutes later was less
conclusive, as Titov and Solovyev reported seeing only one particle
drifting from an unspecified area near Spektr.

  With the visual inspection of Spektr complete, Bloomfield fired
Atlantis' jets to separate from the Mir for the final time at 3:16
p.m. CDT. The astronauts then settled down to several hours of
off-duty time to relax following six days of joint docked
operations. A second orbital adjust burn later in the afternoon open
the separation rate to more than 100 miles per orbit. At 6:30
p.m. Atlantis was below and approximately 105 miles ahead of Mir.

  Atlantis astronauts are due to begin their sleep period at 10:34
p.m., waking at 6:34 a.m. Saturday for entry preparations. Bloomfield
and Commander Jim Wetherbee will conduct a flight control system
checkout at 10:34 a.m. followed by a hot-fire test of the reaction
control system at 11:44 a.m. CDT.


NASA Johnson Space Center Mission Status Reports and other information
are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail
message to majordomo@listserver.jsc.nasa.gov. In the body of the
message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe jscnews"
(no quotes). This will add or remove the e-mail address that sent the
subscribe message to the news release distribution list. The system
will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription. Once
you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail.