STS-79 Mission Control Center
Status Report  #6

Wednesday, September 18, 1996,  5 p.m. CDT

All systems are "go" for Atlantis' to dock with Mir at 10:13 p.m. CDT
tonight, effecting the first exchange of American researchers on the
Russian Space Station.

During the Mission Control-Houston planning shift, Flight Director
Bill Reeves shared status reports with Mission Control-Moscow Shift
Flight Director Viktor Shadrin. The two flight directors agreed that
both vehicles and crews are ready to begin the rendezvous.

Atlantis' astronauts were awakened at 4 p.m. CDT to the song "Hold On
(I'm Coming)" performed by Sam and Dave. The crew then began moving
into its rendezvous timeline.

At 5 p.m. Atlantis was approximately 400 nautical miles away from Mir
and closing on the space station at 335 nautical miles each orbit. A
reaction control system engine firing scheduled at 6 p.m. will begin
slowing Atlantis' approach. Another engine firing at 7:30 p.m. will
put Atlantis on an intercepting path that will place it 1,000 feet
below Mir at 8:54 p.m. CDT. Commander Bill Readdy and Pilot Terry
Wilcutt will then maneuver Atlantis to within 170 feet of Mir, where
the shuttle will stop to allow Mission Control Centers in Houston and
Moscow to evaluate their spacecrafts' systems. Readdy then will gently
move Atlantis to within 30 feet of the orbiting outpost, where he will
again stop and await a final "go" for docking.

Atlantis and Mir will be over Moldavia in the Carpathian Mountains
region at the scheduled docking time.

The hatches between the joined spacecraft are scheduled to be opened
shortly after 12:30 a.m.  CDT Thursday. After safety briefings for
each crew, U.S. Astronauts Shannon Lucid and John Blaha will trade
places as Mir crew members when their custom-fitted Soyuz capsule seat
liners are swapped. At that point, Blaha will begin calling Mir his
"home" spacecraft and Luid will join the STS-79 crew as a mission
specialist, ending her six-month stay on the space station.

Blaha will join Mir 22 Commander Valery Korzun and his flight
engineer, Alexander Kaleri, aboard Mir for the next four months. His
replacement will be Astronaut Jerry Linenger, scheduled to arrive on
Atlantis' next visit scheduled for early January 1997 on mission
STS-81.

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