MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-71 Status Report #13


Monday, July 3, 1995, 5:30 p.m. CDT

With a final hug to departing cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov, Mir 19
Commander Anatoly Solovyev bolted the door of the Mir space station
this afternoon. Atlantis' Flight Engineer Greg Harbaugh followed suit
shortly afterward, performing a final check on a docking target the
next visiting Shuttle will use and then closing the Shuttle's hatch.

Atlantis is planned to undock from Mir at 6:10 a.m. Central Tuesday,
with the beginning of an intricate orbital formation coming about 15
minutes earlier with the undocking of a Soyuz capsule from the Mir
station.  During the close-proximity flying, Mir 19 crew members
Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin will film and photograph the undocking of
Atlantis from Mir, while Atlantis' crew then reciprocates with video
of the Soyuz capsule redocking to the station.

Mir's hatch was closed at 2:32 p.m. Central today, and Atlantis' hatch
was closed at 2:48 p.m. Central.  Following the hatch closing,
Harbaugh began depressurizing the tunnel that had connected Mir and
Atlantis, venting the air overboard to equalize the tunnel with the
vacuum of space in preparation for tomorrow's undocking. The air
vented overboard slower than expected, but steadily; and a leak check
showed both spacecraft hatches were securely closed.  Flight
controllers believe the slow depressurization was due to thermal
blankets that partially obstructed the vent.

Prior to closing the hatches on the station and Shuttle, the ten
cosmonauts and astronauts held a formal farewell ceremony.  Atlantis'
crew presented flight pins, watches, fresh fruit, and tortillas to the
Mir 19 crew to wish them well as they start a two-month stay on Mir.
Also today, medical examinations continued on the Mir 18 crew members,
now Atlantis' passengers, in the Shuttle's laboratory module.  The Mir
18 cosmonauts and astronaut Norm Thagard have been in orbit for 111
days.

The Shuttle crew began an 8-hour sleep period at 5:32 p.m. They awaken
at 1:32 a.m.  Central tomorrow.


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