Mission Control Status Report #4
STS-74

Monday, November 13, 1995  6 p.m. CST

With all of the systems that will be used to put the Russian Docking Module in 
place for a Wednesday link-up with the Mir Space Station checked out and 
ready to go, the STS-74 crew settled down for 8 hours of sleep Monday 
afternoon.

Atlantis, orbiting flawlessly 238 miles above the Earth, is about 2,000 miles 
away from Mir and catching up at 135 miles per orbit.

Earlier in the day, Commander Ken Cameron, Pilot Jim Halsell and Mission 
Specialists Chris Hadfield, Jerry Ross and Bill McArthur checked out the 
docking module, the Orbiter Docking System, the shuttle's robot arm and the 
Orbiter Space Vision System and found all to be in good working order.  Ross 
and McArthur also inspected the space suits they will don should a space walk 
become necessary during Tuesday's mating operation or the actual linkup of 
Atlantis to Mir.

After an 8:31 p.m. CST wake-up call, Atlantis' astronauts will begin the 
process of moving the docking module.  At 11:31 p.m., Hadfield will power up 
the Orbiter Space Visions System.  At 11:46 p.m., Hadfield and McArthur will 
grapple the module with the robot arm.  At 12:21 a.m. Tuesday, the pair will 
remove the module from its payload bay moorings and Cameron and Halsell will 
prepare the Orbiter Docking System for connection to the docking module.  At 
12:56 a.m., Hadfield and McArthur will use the robot arm to move the docking 
module over the Orbiter Docking System, then place the arm in a "limp" mode 
with the docking module and Orbiter Docking System just four inches apart.  
Cameron will fire Atlantis' steering jets, forcing the hooks and latches to 
engage and locking the Russian Docking Module in place.  Hadfield and Ross will 
then test the mated Russian docking module's systems.

After a rendezvous burn of the shuttle's steering jets at 2:16 a.m., the crew 
will continue work to configure the docking module systems for Wednesday's 
docking with the Russian space station.  Another firing of the shuttle's 
thrusters is scheduled for 10:20 a.m.

The astronauts will end their day at 12:31 p.m. Tuesday, beginning a six-hour 
sleep shift that will synchronize their sleep cycle with that of the Mir 20 
cosmonauts.

The JSC Newsroom is closed, but will reopen at 11:30 p.m. CST today.