STS-79 Mission Control Center
Status Report #14

Sunday, September 22, 1996 5 p.m.

The crews of Atlantis and Mir will begin the final full day of docked
operations tonight, wrapping up the transfer of experiment data,
equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft in preparation for
closing the hatch between the shuttle and station at the end of the
day.

The shuttle crew will awaken at 8:54 p.m. CDT today for the eighth day
of the flight. Highlighting the final day of personal interaction with
the Mir crew will be a joint crew press conference and a farewell
ceremony. The press conference will begin at 2:44 a.m. CDT Monday and
feature all six shuttle crew members, now including homeward-bound
astronaut Shannon Lucid, as well as Mir 22 crew members Commander
Valery Korzun, Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri and astronaut John
Blaha, starting out on four months aboard the Russian station. The
astronauts and cosmonauts will field questions from reporters both in
the U.S and in Russia during the 50-minute session.

Following the press conference, the crews will have a formal farewell
ceremony starting at 4:44 a.m. CDT Monday. The hatch between the two
spacecraft will then be sealed shut at 7:09 a.m. CDT Monday, although
the shuttle and station will spend another crew night attached to one
another before Atlantis undocks from Mir at 8:33 p.m. CDT Monday.

The transfer of equipment and supplies back and forth between the
shuttle and Mir has gone well and 94 percent of the planned work
already has been completed. The transferred items include more than
1,800 pounds of water, created as a byproduct of electrical generation
aboard Atlantis and left with the Mir for use by the station. Still
more water will be transferred to the Mir tomorrow, with almost a ton
of water in total having been moved to the Mir by the time Atlantis
leaves.

Atlantis is in excellent condition, circling Earth docked with the Mir
in a 243 by 230 statute mile orbit.

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