STS-79 Day 1 Highlights

On Monday, September 16, 1996, 6:00 a.m. CDT, STS-79 MCC Status Report # 1 reports:

The Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on time at 3:54 a.m. CDT today, beginning a planned 10 day mission in which Atlantis will dock with the Russian Space Station Mir and retrieve U.S. astronaut Shannon Lucid, ending her record-setting six month stay onboard Mir.

Atlantis' six member crew includes veteran astronaut John Blaha, who will replace Lucid on Mir and become the third of seven Americans who will live and work as a researcher aboard Mir through 1998. Blaha will spend about four months on board the space station.

During a communications hook-up with Houston's Mission Control, Lucid told ground controllers that she saw the launch from on board Mir. At the time of the shuttle's launch, Mir was about 5,000 nautical miles southwest of Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

Following a normal ascent into space, Atlantis' auxiliary power unit #2 experienced a premature shutdown about the time of main engine cutoff. Because of that situation, flight controllers considered an option in which the shuttle would have docked with Mir a day earlier. However, after further evaluation, the flight control team notified the crew that they should press on toward the planned docking time on Wednesday but that ground controllers would continue their evaluation of the APU's health in regard to the duration of the docked operations and the duration of the flight.

Currently the planned docking would occur at 10:17 p.m. CDT on Wednesday with undocking set for 8:31 p.m. Sept. 23. During docked operations, Blaha would join the Mir crew, Lucid would join the Atlantis crew, and astronauts will deliver food, water, clothing and other supplies to Mir. Atlantis' crew also will bring back materials gathered from science experiments that have been conducted on board the Russian space station.

The orbiter's payload bay doors were opened about 5:15 a.m. and ground controllers gave the crew a go-ahead for on-orbit operations.

Atlantis crew members, commanded by Bill Readdy, will begin their sleep period at 8:54 a.m. today and will be awakened at 4:54 p.m. today.

On Monday, September 16, 1996, 5:00 p.m. CDT, STS-79 MCC Status Report # 2 reports:

Astronauts on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis began their first full day of orbit operations at 4:54 p.m. CDT today, awakening to the song "Duke of Earl." The song, performed by Gene Chandler, was uplinked in honor of Mission Specialist Carl Walz's 20th anniversary. The song is one he performed for his wife, Pam, before they were married while he was a member of an Ohio band called "The Blue Moons." This is the second time Walz has spent his anniversary on orbit.

One of the crew's first activities today will be an Orbiter Maneuvering System engine burn to fine-tune the shuttle's approach to the Mir Space Station. That burn is scheduled for about 10:45 p.m. CDT. Atlantis is in a 159 by 131 nautical mile orbit about 16,000 nautical miles away from Mir and closing at a rate of 575 miles each orbit.

Docking with Mir is planned for 10:17 p.m. CDT Wednesday. During docked operations, Blaha will join the Mir crew and Lucid will join the Atlantis crew. Before undocking at 8:31 p.m. Sept. 23, the astronauts will deliver food, water, clothing and other supplies to Mir, and pick up science experiment samples from Mir.

Also on tap for the crew are the setup and activation of the double Spacehab module in Atlantis' payload bay and several other experiments. Included among those is the Active Rack Isolation System designed to dampen vibrations on International Space Station experiments. Apt and Walz will begin setting up ARIS about 9:30 p.m. CDT. The crew also will start readying packages for their transfer to Mir.

Flight controllers and mission managers continue to review data on the unexpected shutdown of auxiliary power unit #2. Shuttle managers decided to go forward with a Wednesday docking, but are still looking at the APU's health in regard to the duration of the docked operations and the mission. Atlantis has two healthy APUs.

Go to STS-79 Flight Day 2 Highlights: