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| S P E C I A L | Repairing Mir |
Shuttle undocks from Mir for trip home
October 3, 1997
Web posted at: 1:44 p.m. EDT (1744 GMT)HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- After a delay of nearly two hours, space shuttle Atlantis undocked from Mir Friday, and was to fly around the space station to try to spot a hole in a damaged module before heading back to Earth.
Russian ground controllers requested the postponement, so they could check a newly installed data-relay box on the aging space station's positioning system, which malfunctioned a month ago, NASA spokesman Rob Navias said.
The undocking originally scheduled for 11:43 a.m. EDT (1543GMT) was delayed until 1:20 p.m. EDT (1720 GMT). Atlantis is to land on Earth Sunday.
Series of steps to be followed
Shuttle Atlantis and Mir undock
1 min. 2 sec. VXtreme video
NASA officials said shuttle pilot Mike Bloomfield would position Atlantis 600 feet from Mir to test navigation sensors, then move the shuttle back within 240 feet of the space station -- the closest distance the two crafts can safely maintain.
The two spacecrafts are to stay in that position for an hour, so the Atlantis crew can have a clear view of the Spektr module that was damaged in a June collision with an unmanned supply ship. The crew plans to photograph Spektr and Mir from their vantage point.
Next, Atlantis is to fly around Mir while shuttle astronauts photograph the space station with still and videocameras.
To find the source of the Spektr leak, Mir Commander Anatoly Solovyov and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov will open a vent valve between Spektr and the rest of Mir to allow a small amount of air into Spektr.
Managers believe the air will pick up some debris inside Spektr and cast it into space, giving shuttle astronauts a chance to see the debris stream, and to determine from that where the hole is located.
Wolf on Mir
A spacewalk on September 5 failed to locate the opening, but did eliminate the most obvious possible place for it to be -- near a radiator. Space officials now believe the module may be leaking at a juncture where a damaged solar panel connects to the station.
In preparation for a possible jettison of the solar panel, astronauts left a huge plug outside Mir during a spacewalk Wednesday; it could be used to plug the port connecting the panel to Spektr, sealing the leak in the module.
Atlantis has left behind U.S. astronaut David Wolf, who replaced astronaut Michael Foale, and will remain on Mir for four months.
Correspondent John Holliman contributed to this report.
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