MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-71 Status Report #17

Wednesday, July 5, 1995, 5 p.m. CDT

  With the Mir space station growing ever more dim behind them,
Atlantis' crew members concentrated today on biomedical research in
the Shuttle's Spacelab module.

  The Mir space station is now about 200 nautical miles behind Atlantis
and continuing to fall behind by about 9 nautical miles per orbit.
Nevertheless, Commander Hoot Gibson reported he can still clearly see
the station as a distant star with each sunrise.

  The Mir's former inhabitants--Mir 18 crewmen Vladimir Dezhurov,
Gennady Strekalov and astronaut Norm Thagard--now in orbit for 113
days, were the subjects of the scientific investigations aboard
Atlantis.  Strekalov and Thagard each spent a session in the Lower
Body Negative Pressure device--a device that simulates the effects of
gravity by using lower air pressure to pull body fluids to the legs.
Also, a series of experiments was performed dealing with the reflex
responses of the cardiovascular system.  Each crewman also exercised
on the treadmill.

  To fix a minor problem onboard, Gibson and Pilot Charlie Precourt
rigged an alternate method of supplying power to equipment that allows
the crew to send electronic still photographs to the ground.  The fix
is working well, and several new images were received by controllers
this afternoon. The crew began an 8-hour sleep period at 5:32 p.m. and
will awaken Thursday at 1:32 a.m. Central for another day of medical
work and several standard checks of equipment Atlantis will need for
its landing on Friday.



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