STS-81
Report # 01 
Sunday, January 12, 1997  4:30 a.m. CST 
 
  NASA's first Shuttle mission of 1997 began this morning with launch of
Atlantis on Mission STS-81.  Launch came at the opening of the
available launch window at 3:27 a.m. CST.

  At the time of launch, Mir was traveling over the Galapagos Islands
about 2400 n.m. southwest of the Kennedy Space Center.  About 25
minutes after launch, the Mir 22 crew were notified of Atlantis's
launch and were able to view a video uplink of the event.

  Over the next few days, Atlantis will perform a series of
maneuvering burns as it catches up to the orbiting Russian facility.
Docking of Atlantis and Mir will take place on the fourth flight day
of the mission, Tuesday, January 14th at 9:53 p.m. CST.

     During five days of joint docked operations, 5,975 pounds of science equipment, logistics and water will be transferred between the two spacecraft.  NASA Astronaut John Blaha, who has been aboard Mir since mid-September will transfer over to Atlantis and will be coming home after a 117 day stay aboard the station and 128 days in space.  STS-81 crewmember Jerry Linenger will take Blaha's place on Mir and will serve as a station researcher until Atlantis again docks with the station in May.

  The STS-81 crew are scheduled to begin an 8 hour sleep period this
morning at 8:27 a.m. CST.  Atlantis's crew will be awaken at 4:27
p.m. CST this evening to begin their first full day in space.

The next Shuttle status report will be filed at 5:00 p.m. CST today.



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