MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-71 Status Report #8

Saturday, July 1, 1995 6 a.m. CDT

The sounds of a Russian pop song, Kuca Kuca Kuca, (pronounced Keesa
Keesa Keesa) greeted the Atlantis/Mir crew members as they awoke to
begin their fifth flight day on orbit.

Commander Hoot Gibson's sleep was briefly interrupted twice
overnight. An alarm sounded when the H2 manifold valve for hydrogen
tank 1 gave a "closed" indication.  Flight controllers asked Gibson to
verify the valve's position, and then reset it to "open." The panel
continued to show a "closed" configuration, but all tank pressures
indicated the valve was open and functioning normally. Flight
controllers looked at the data and concluded that a microswitch in the
valve was reading its position incorrectly and that the valve is
functioning normally. Gibson then returned to sleep.

About 40 minutes before crew wake up, the temperature on one of the
forward right reaction control system jets, F5R, fell below limits
signalling an alarm on board and waking the crew. The temperature drop
was not unexpected due to the inertial attitude the Atlantis/Mir
spacecraft has been flying. An orbital maneuver, already scheduled in
to the crew's activity timeline, will put Atlantis into an attitude
that will warm the jet.

Today, the STS-71 and Mir 18 crew members will continue transferring
medical samples, equipment and hardware from Mir to Atlantis for the
return trip to Earth. In addition, crew members also will fill four
canisters of water, generated on board Atlantis as a byproduct of its
fuel cells, and transfer it to Mir. Four similar canisters were filled
on Friday.

Gibson, Pilot Charlie Precourt, and Mission Specialists Ellen Baker
and Bonnie Dunbar, along with Mir 18 Commander Vladimir Dezhurov and
Cosmonaut Researcher Norm Thagard will be interviewed by CNN and Conus
Communications beginning at 9:47 a.m.

The current altitude of Atlantis and Mir is 217 nautical miles with an
orbital period of 92 minutes.
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