MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-71 Status Report #15

Tuesday, July 4, 1995, 2 p.m. CDT

With a graceful orbital bow, Atlantis departed the Mir space station
on time this morning and is now flying solo once again while medical
examinations of the Shuttle's new, homeward-bound passengers continue.

Atlantis Commander Hoot Gibson undocked from Mir at 6:10 a.m. Central
today, releasing hooks that held the docked spacecraft together and
allowing springs built into the docking system to gently push the
Shuttle away.  Atlantis was preceded in undocking by a Soyuz
spacecraft flown by Mir 19 Commander Anatoly Solovyev and Engineer
Gennady Strekalov that unlatched from the station at 5:55
a.m. Central.  As Atlantis slowly circled the station, the Soyuz
redocked, each spacecraft capturing final photographs and film of the
other.  Aboard Atlantis, Gibson likened the session to a "cosmic
ballet."

Atlantis and her crew of eight are enroute to a Friday landing. The
Mir 19 cosmonauts are embarking on a months-long stay aboard Mir.

After firing Atlantis' jets for a final separation from the vicinity
of Mir, medical investigations resumed in the Shuttle's laboratory
module, with each of the three Mir 18 crew members taking turns
exercising on a treadmill.  The returning Mir 18 crewmen are on their
112th day of weightlessness, and such medical work will continue for
the next two days aboard the Shuttle.

Atlantis is currently about 35 nautical miles ahead of Mir, continuing
to separate from the station by about 9 nautical miles with each orbit
of Earth.  The crew will go to sleep at 5:32 p.m. today and awaken for
the ninth day of Atlantis' flight at 1:32 a.m.  Wednesday.


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