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Shuttle Atlantis pulls away from Mir
January 19, 1997
Web posted at: 11:00 p.m. ESTJOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas (CNN) -- Maneuvering in darkness 240 miles (384 km) above central Russia, the shuttle Atlantis separated flawlessly from the Russian space station Mir Sunday and began its return to Earth.
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The two craft separated as scheduled at 9:15 pm EST, with Atlantis beginning the delicate maneuver at a speed of about one inch per second. As the shuttle began to pick up speed the faint glare of a sunrise could be seen on the Earth's horizon.
With Atlantis 450 feet from Mir, the shuttle crew fired its booster rockets to complete two flights around Mir. With the crafts hovering in sunlight above the Pacific equator, Atlantis began sending crisp images of Mir to Earth.
Atlantis is scheduled to begin its final flyaway at 11 p.m. EST.
Astronauts say goodbye
Earlier Sunday, astronauts bid farewell to their counterparts on Mir and closed the hatches between the two crafts.
The three Mir crewmen waved goodbye as the hatch was swung shut at 7:38 a.m. EST.
"Good-bye, good-bye," said astronaut Jerry Linenger, at the beginning of a four-month stay on Mir. "I'll see you in the summer."
Atlantis arrived at Mir Tuesday to pick up U.S. astronaut John Blaha, who has been aboard the station since September, and drop off Linenger, his replacement.
During the five days of docked operations both crews worked to transfer supplies, equipment and water to stock Mir. At the same time they also stowed earthbound equipment and experiment samples from Mir inside the Spacelab module in Atlantis' payload bay.
'Didn't realize I would miss her'
Blaha, just days from his return to Earth, said Sunday he was looking forward to being reunited with his family but he would miss the view of Earth from space.
"It's just a real pleasure to look at our beautiful planet," he said. "I love working up here but ... my wife and I have been married for over 30 years and I didn't realize I would miss her as much as I did."
The shuttle and Mir crews staged a farewell for the television cameras about three hours before they said their actual good-byes.
Warm regards all around
"Unfortunately we are saying good-bye to the excellent Atlantis crew," Mir commander Valeri Korzun said during the ceremony, which was conducted almost entirely in Russian. "We wish them a safe landing."
Blaha thanked his cosmonaut crewmates for their hospitality and stressed the importance of NASA's cooperative efforts with Russia.
"This program is not only important for space exploration, but also for the relationship between the countries," he said.
Linenger will perform more than 80 experiments and conduct a space walk, the first from Mir by an American.
The shuttle will return to the station in May to collect the 42-year-old astronaut and bring his replacement, Mike Foale.
Atlantis was scheduled to return to Earth at Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. But NASA officials were considering extending the flight a day to complete a test of an experimental space station treadmill.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Special section:
CNN Interactive's extended coverageRelated stories:
- Atlantis prepares to undock from Mir - January 19, 1997
- Contact: Atlantis docks with Mir - January 15, 1997
- Atlantis blasts off for Mir rendezvous - January 12, 1997
- Atlantis slated for pre-dawn liftoff - January 11, 1997
- Atlantis undocks from fourth Mir docking - September 23, 1996
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