STS-79 Mission Control Center
Status Report #12

Saturday, September 21, 1996 6 p.m. CDT

Transfers of equipment and supplies from the Atlantis Spacehab module
to Mir will begin to ramp down today as the attention begins to shift
to the transfer of experiment samples and equipment from Mir to
Atlantis.  Yesterday, the crew reported it had moved 89 percent of the
items marked for transfer to Mir.

The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the combined shuttle/Mir
spacecraft will awaken at 8:54 p.m. CDT to begin their third full day
of docked operations. Atlantis Commander Bill Readdy and Mir 22
Commander Valery Korzun will start the day with a planning session
involving all nine crew members.

Mission Specialist Shannon Lucid and newly arrived Mir Flight Engineer
2 John Blaha will continue their hand-over, the first in a succession
that will mark America's continued presence on the Russian space
station.  Mission Specialist Carl Walz will use the IMAX camera to
shoot scenes of Mission Specialists Jay Apt and Tom Akers working in
the Priroda module.  After that is complete, Korzun will set up the
IMAX camera in the Mir core module.

Both Lucid and Korzun will get some exercise, the former on Mir's
treadmill and the latter on Mir's stationary bicycle. Mission
Specialist Tom Akers, Pilot Terry Wilcutt and Walz will take turns on
the exercise equipment later in the day.

Walz will help Blaha and Korzun transfer the MIDAS superconductor
materials experiment from the Spacelab to Priroda.

At 5:59 a.m., CNN will interview Readdy, Wilcutt, Lucid and Blaha.

The joined spacecraft continue to travel around the world at 17,500
miles an hour at an altitude of about 235 miles, with all of their
systems working well. Undocking remains scheduled for 8:31 p.m. CDT
Monday. The next STS-79 status report will be issued at 6 a.m. CDT
Sunday.

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