MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-71 Status Report #12

Monday, July 3, 1995, 6 a.m. CDT

The Florida State University Fight Song woke up the Atlantis/Mir crew
members today in honor of former Seminole Norm Thagard, the Mir 18
cosmonaut-researchers who is in his 111th day on orbit and celebrating
his 52nd birthday today.

Well under way on board the spacecraft are the joint U.S. and Russian
biomedical investigations being conducted in the Spacelab module. Both
the astronauts and cosmonauts will spend time on the treadmill or
cycle ergometer today, and the Mir 18 crew members will continue to
act as test subjects to see how extended exposure to a microgravity
environment affects the body's ability to absorb medication and
respond to viral infections.

All three crews will gather in Atlantis' Spacelab module for the
traditional press conference. Media from JSC, KSC and Russia will have
the opportunity to talk with the crew members in that event, scheduled
to begin at 9:07 a.m. central time.

The final official meeting of the three Atlantis/Mir crews takes place
at a farewell ceremony scheduled to begin at 12:32 p.m. on board
Mir. Following the official farewell, crew members will complete the
final minutes of equipment transfer, bid a personal adieu to their
friends and colleagues, then close the hatches of each spacecraft to
prepare for Tuesday's undocking.

In the meantime, transfer of equipment and water to the Mir
continues. In addition to the continuing transfer of excess shuttle
water, the SVET root module, which provides a growth medium for plants
as part of the Mir Greenhouse experiment also will be transferred and
stowed on board Mir.

By the time of Tuesday's undocking, more than one-half ton of water,
along with 53 pounds of oxygen, and 80 pounds of nitrogen will have
been transferred to the space station. The oxygen and nitrogen are
being transferred to Mir by using the Shuttle's atmospheric system to
raise the air pressure in the station.

The Atlantis/Mir spacecraft continues to circle the Earth every 92
minutes at an altitude of about 215 nautical miles.