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November 16, 1995
Web posted at: 10:40 a.m. EST
From Correspondent John Holliman
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- The eight space travelers circling Earth aboard the docked Atlantis-Mir complex exchanged gifts -- and more -- Thursday. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, part of the Atlantis crew, presented a collapsable guitar he's been saving to German cosmonaut Thomas Reider, one of three crewmen aboard Russia's Mir space station.
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Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield (lower left) 136K AIFF or 136K WAV sound #1 104K AIFF or 136K WAV sound #2 |
German cosmonaut Thomas Reider (with quitar) 128K AIFF or 128K WAV sound #1 72K AIFF or 128K WAV sound #2 |
The Mir commander said the guitar would remain on the orbiting Russian outpost and be moved later to a yet-to-be-built international space station. Astronaut Jerry Ross said not everyone is talented enough to play a guitar, and he drew laughs when he gave the cosmonauts a tape of Texas country music. Speaking in Russian, Atlantis commander Ken Cameron presented the three Mir cosmonauts with plaques commemorating past and present Mir-shuttle missions. The astronauts also gave the Mir crew knit shirts bearing the shuttle emblem, while the Mir crew gave the astronauts commemorative banners and badges.
After gifts were exchanged, the combined crews sat down for a meal planned by the astronauts that Ross had earlier billed as containing "everything from soup to nuts" as thanks for the elaborate meals the crew was treated to when they trained in Russia. The meal included soup, vegetables, shrimp cocktail, steak, potatos, and cherry pie and ice cream.
The ceremonial gift exchange was a break from the main purpose of the eight-day Atlantis mission. The two crews are transferring 100 gallons of water from Atlantis to Mir. The cosmonauts will use it for drinking and conducting experiments. The shuttle creates water as a by-product of its electrical generating system, but instead of dumping it overboard, the crew has been bagging it for transfer to Mir.
The astronauts also are dropping off food, science experiments and other supplies, items weighing about a thousand pounds. The Mir crew will give Atlantis about 800 pounds of experimental results for return to Earth next week. Atlantis linked with Mir early Wednesday and is scheduled to undock on Saturday.
Also Thursday, shuttle astronaut Ross took pictures of Mir through Atlantis' windows. The photo survey is intended to help NASA and the Russian space agency assess the decade-old station's condition, including any damage from micrometeoroids or other space trash. The crews also conducted tests to examine how jet exhaust from one spaceship affects the other. Mir and Atlantis took turns firing steering jets while sensors mounted on the shuttle robot arm monitored the exhaust.
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AP contributed to this report.