Mission Control Status Report #1
					STS-74

Sunday, November 12, 1995   11 a.m. CST

The Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on time at 6:31 a.m. CST Sunday 
marking the beginning of a mission in which the shuttle will rendezvous with 
Russia's Space Station Mir and deliver a permanent docking port that will be 
used during future shuttle flights to Mir.

About 43 minutes after launch, a two minute and 13 second engine firing 
changed the shuttle's path into a 162 nautical mile circular orbit. Once on 
orbit, the five crew members began configuring Atlantis for on-orbit 
operations. Atlantis' payload bay doors were opened about 90 minutes into 
the flight, followed by a "go" for on-orbit operations.

STS-74 Commander Ken Cameron and Pilot Jim Halsell, about three hours 
into the last flight of the year, fired the orbiter's reaction control jets in the 
first of a series of rendezvous burns that refined Atlantis' path to Mir. 
Shortly after that jet firing, the first Canadian mission specialist, Chris 
Hadfield, activated the Russian built docking module and its systems. The 
docking module is housed in Atlantis' payload bay. Hadfield will use the 
orbiter's robot arm early Tuesday to mate the docking module with the 
Atlantis' Orbiter Docking System prior to the orbiter's link-up with Mir early 
Wednesday. The docking is scheduled for 12:28 a.m. CST Wednesday.

All systems aboard Atlantis are performing well.

Crew members - Cameron, Halsell, and mission specialists Chris Hadfield, 
Jerry Ross and Bill McArthur - will begin their sleep period at 12:31 p.m. 
CST today and awaken at 8:31 p.m. CST today.

The JSC Newsroom will close at noon CST today and reopen at 12:30 a.m. 
Monday.