STS-81
Report # 14 
Saturday, January 18, 1997 6 p.m. CST 
 
 As flight controllers prepare to awaken the nine astronauts and
cosmonauts of the orbiting Atlantis-Mir complex for their final full
day of docked operations, a decision on whether to extend the STS-81
mission has been delayed.

  NASA managers met Saturday morning to consider adding a day
following undocking to regain lost data from a treadmill experiment,
but decided to wait until Monday to make a final decision. Schedulers
are adding a second assembly, exercise session and tear-down of the
Treadmill Vibration Isolation System (TVIS) to the timeline, but
managers won't commit to the extra day until it is known whether the
data gathering can be completed in the existing 10-day flight plan.

  The treadmill device was used by three astronauts early Tuesday to
collect data on how vibrations imparted by crew exercise may be
reduced or eliminated on the International Space Station. The loss of
data was traced to a faulty component of the laptop computer attached
to the treadmill device.

  Atlantis is scheduled to undock from the Mir Space Station at 8:15
p.m. CST Sunday, leaving astronaut Jerry Linenger behind for four
months of scientific studies. John Blaha, now a member of the STS-81
crew, will return to Earth aboard Atlantis after four months of
research on Mir. Commander Mike Baker and pilot Brent Jett will guide
Atlantis in a fly-around of the Russian station after the vehicles
separate.

  Mission specialist Marsha Ivins continues to oversee the transfer of
hundreds of pounds of water, supplies, and equipment between the two
spacecraft.  By the end of flight day seven early Saturday, 93 percent
of items had been transferred.  More than 1,400 pounds of water have
been carried from Atlantis to resupply the Russian outpost.

  Baker, Jett, Blaha, Ivins and mission specialists Jeff Wisoff and
John Grunsfeld are scheduled to awaken at 7:27 tonight. All the
U.S. and Russian crew members will participate in a joint news
conference from orbit at 1:27 a.m. CST Sunday, followed at 3:27
a.m. by a farewell ceremony.  Hatches between the two craft will close
about 6:30 a.m.


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