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| S P E C I A L | Repairing Mir |
Shuttle, Mir prepare to part
Hatch closed; undocking set for Friday
October 2, 1997
Web posted at: 8:09 p.m. EDT (0009 GMT)HOUSTON SPACE CENTER, Texas (CNN) -- The crews of the space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir have said their goodbyes and closed the hatch between the two spacecraft.
On Friday, the ships will be uncoupled and Atlantis will begin its return trip home, ending a six-day joint U.S.-Russian space mission 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.
"Be careful down there on Earth. It's awful close to the ground, and somebody could get hurt," joked astronaut David Wolf, who came up on Atlantis and will remain on Mir for the next four months.
NASA confirms the hatch is closed.
The hatch between Atlantis and Mir was closed at about 5:45 p.m. CDT (2245 GMT), when they were high over the Atlantic Ocean. The crews were to spend the night on their respective spacecrafts before the undocking Friday.
The hatch closure was delayed for a few minutes to give Wolf, who was busy at work on Mir, a chance to stop by and say a final farewell to the shuttle crew.
A L S O :
Space -- the final marketing frontier? Coming home from Mir will be astronaut Michael Foale, who has been on the beleaguered Russian space station since May. Thursday, he moved his personal gear onto Atlantis in preparation for his return.
"It's quite a long time to be in one place, and I'm looking forward to the adventure of learning how to walk again and live in my house with my wife and my children," Foale said. While eager to return, he said his departure would also be sad.
"It's my friends here whom I'll be leaving behind," Foale said.
Foale's tenure saw series of mishaps
During his time on Mir, Foale and the two Russian cosmonauts on board had to deal with a series of system failures, including breakdowns of computers and life-support systems. The most serious mishap was a collision between the station and a Russian cargo ship, which disabled one of the modules that make up Mir.
All of the recent troubles have set off a debate in the United States over whether American astronauts should continue to live on Mir. NASA decided to send Wolf on his scheduled mission, despite opposition from some in Congress.
The shuttle crew brought 5,000 pounds of new equipment to Mir, as well as 200 gallons of water to replenish the space station's supply. Wednesday, two crew members -- one Russian, one American -- performed a tricky joint space walk to retrieve a scientific experiment.
Perhaps Atlantis' most important cargo was a new model of a computer that helps Mir orient itself in space, to replace one that failed several times in recent months.
"We installed the computer, and it's working perfectly. Perfectly!" exclaimed Mir commander Anatoly Solovyov, who punctuated his point by pounding a table with his fist.
Atlantis is due back on Earth Sunday.
· MIR MAIN PAGE · RELATED SITES · HISTORY ·
· TIMELINE · GALLERY · SOYUZ · CREW · REPAIR MISSION ·
Related stories:
- Successful spacewalk, despite early snag - October 2, 1997
- Shuttle crew unloads space supplies for Mir - September 28, 1997
- Russians, Americans embrace in space - September 27, 1997
- Shuttle Atlantis links up with Mir - September 27, 1997
Related sites:
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- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web- official NASA site for U.S. astronauts and their activities aboard the Russian Mir Space Station
- NASA Office of Inspector General
- ISS Phase I - Space Station Mir - contains graphics and specifications of the diferent areas of MIR
- Russian Space Agency - homepage of the Russian Space Agency through the NASA site
- Russian Space Research Institute (IKI)
- MIR Space Station - news, research, history, images and links from Maximov Online
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