STS-86 space shuttle mission: STS-86 space shuttle flight information, STS86 launch

STS-86 Atlantis		87th Shuttle Mission
	Commander James D. Wetherbee Pilot Michael J.Bloomfield Mission Specialist-1 Vldimar G. Titov (RSA) Mission Specialist-2 Scott E. Parazynski Mission Specialist-3 Jean-Loup J.M. Chretien (CNES) Mission Specialist-4 Wendy B. Lawrence Mission Specialist-5 David A. Wolf Download C. Michael Foale

VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104 (20th flight)
LOCATION: Pad 39A
KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Sept. 25 at 10:34:19 p.m. EDT
MIR DOCKING TIME: Sept. 27 at 3:58 p.m. EDT
UNDOCKING TIME: Oct. 3 at 1:28 p.m. EDT
KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Oct. 6 at 5:55:09 p.m. EDT
MISSION DURATION: 10 days, 19 hours, 20 minutes 50 seconds
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 250 nautical miles/51.6 degrees
Cargo Bay Payloads: Spacehab Double Module, Orbiter Docking System, European Proximity Sensor, MEEP Carriers, SEEDS-II
In-Cabin Payloads: RME's, KidSat, CPCG, CREAM, CCM-A, MSX, SIMPLEX

October 6, 1997 - Commander Jim Wetherbee and pilot Mike Bloomfield brought Atlantis down to a picture-perfect landing at 5:55 p.m. EDT on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center. The deorbit burn occurred at about 4:48 p.m. EDT. This landing of Atlantis marked the 40th landing at KSC in the history of Space Shuttle flight. It was the seventh landing of the Shuttle at KSC this year.

October 5, 1997 - The landing of Atlantis and its crew was waved off for both landing opportunities due to heavy cloud cover over the three-mile long Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center . Mission managers decided to keep Atlantis in orbit an additional day. While flying over Jordan, the crew of Atlantis was able to view the plume from the launch of a Russian Progress resupply rocket for the Mir Space Station.

October 4, 1997 - The Atlantis crew performed general housekeeping chores and stowed equipment and experiments in preparation for reentry and landing tomorrow which is scheduled for 6:59 p.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center. The payload bay doors are scheduled to be closed at 3:11 p.m. EDT Sunday. The decision to land is due at 5:31 p.m. EDT with the deorbit burn at 5:32 p.m. EDT. If flight controllers decide to wave off that first attempt, a second opportunity to land at KSC could be made at 8:36 p.m. EDT.

October 3, 1997 - Atlantis and Mir undocked at 1:28 p.m. EDT, one orbit later than originally planned. The crew of Atlantis then did a flyaround of Mir, made a video and photographic observations of the Mir while the Mir crew pumped air into the Spektr Module in the hope that it would reveal the location of the breach in that Module. The Atlantis crew was able to spot an area under one of the solar panels where particles were escaping when the air was pumped in. The final separation maneuver was accomplished at 4:16 p.m. EDT.

October 2, 1997 - Both crews took take a break from their busy schedules to talk with media assembled in the United States, Russia and France in a news conference. At the conclusion of the press conference, the two crews, which have worked side by side since last Saturday, conducted an informal farewell ceremony as their joint operations came to an end.

Following final transfer activities and an inventory review, the astronauts and cosmonauts had an opportunity for private farewells before the two commanders, Jim Wetherbee and Anatoly Solovyev, closed the hatches of their spacecraft. Atlantis will remain docked to the Mir during the crew's sleep period, with undocking scheduled for 11:43 a.m. EDT on Friday. Pilot Mike Bloomfield will be at Atlantis' controls for the undocking and flyaround of the Mir space station.

October 1, 1997 - History was made when Mission specialists Vladimir Titov and Scott Parazynski performed a spacewalk. It was the first time a Russian cosmonaut had conducted an EVA from the space shuttle and the first time a Russian had worn the American EMU. The spacewalk lasted for five hours and one minute and concluded at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

They accomplished their prime task of retrieving four suit-case-sized experiments, the MEEPs from the Mir's Docking Module, which were attached to the Mir's docking module by Linda Godwin and Rich Clifford during STS-76 in March 1996 to characterize the environment surrounding the Mir space station. They also tested tools and techniques for use in assembling the new International Space Station, deployed the solar array cap on the docking module, which will be retrieved by Russian spacewalkers for use in trying to seal the breach in the hull of the Spektr Module, and tested the attitude control capabilities of the simplified aid for EVA rescue (SAFER) unit.

The installation of the new motion control system computer on board the Mir was completed earlier today and Mission Control in Korolev uplinked the navigation software to the new computer. The gyrodynes would not be restarted until the tomorrow's passes over Russian ground stations.

September 30, 1997 - The crew of shuttle Atlantis continued to transfer logistical supplies, water and experiments to Mir. Transfered items included an experiment which studies circadian rhythms. The Beetle experiment was designed to study how a simple organism responds to changes in time cues. In humans, these changes in circadian rhythms are often manifested as jet lag or lethargy.

September 29, 1997 - Wolf reported that during the set-up of the bioreactor facility on the Mir, he was surprised to discover that cell growth inside the facility had already begun. The bioreactor experiment is designed to grow large, three-dimensional cultures of cancer cells to aid scientists in the study of what contributes to their growth, and Wolf is one of the inventors of the bioreactor apparatus.

September 28, 1997 - Astronaut David Wolf officially became a Mir 24 crewmember after his Soyuz seat liner was installed in the Soyuz, and his Russian pressure suit passed a series of leak checks. The seat liner is designed to keep the astronaut or cosmonaut comfortable and to help cushion the body during landing if the Soyuz is needed for reentry. Wolf also became the sixth American to live and work on board the Mir and is scheduled to remain there about four months continuing a permanent American presence of the Russia complex. This officially concluded Michael Foale's 135-day mission on the Mir .

September 27, 1997 - Atlantis docked with the Mir Space Station at 3:58 p.m. EDT . After pressure and leak checks were conducted on both spacecraft, Atlantis commander Jim Wetherbee and Mir commander Anatoly Solovyev opened the hatches on their spacecraft at 5:45 p.m. EDT. The 10 space travelers from both crews shared the traditional Russian greeting of bread and salt before gathering in Mir's main module for a meal.

This is the seventh of nine planned missions to Mir and the fourth one involving an exchange of U.S. astronauts. The previous space shuttle Mir missions were STS-71, STS-74, STS-76, STS-79, STS-81 and STS-84.

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