STS-84
Report # 03 
Friday, May 16, 1997 
 
Atlantis continues to close on the Mir Space Station in anticipation
of tonight's sixth linkup between the Shuttle and the Russian space
complex.

Preparations for the docking are nearly complete as Atlantis' seven
astronauts worked throughout the overnight hours to check out the
rendezvous tools that will be used during the final phase of the
approach to Mir. This morning, Commander Charlie Precourt and Pilot
Eileen Collins fired Atlantis' jets in another in a series of burns to
refine the Shuttle's path to the Mir.

Overnight, Collins and Mission Specialists Carlos Noriega and
Jean-Francois Clervoy successfully checked out the programs and laser
range hardware that will be used throughout the rendezvous.  The crew
also extended the capture ring on the Orbiter Docking System to verify
it is healthy and ready to support mating operations following contact
between the two vehicles.  And, Precourt and Ed Lu setup a camera in
the Orbiter Docking System which will be used tonight as an extra
visual aid to help Precourt precisely guide Atlantis to its meeting
with the Mir. Docking remains scheduled for 9:34 p.m. Central time
tonight.

Clervoy, Lu and Russian cosmonaut Elena Kondakova spent several hours
throughout the night in the Spacehab module at the rear of Atlantis'
cargo bay working with the Biorack, a facility housing almost a dozen
experiments. The crew also took time this morning to discuss astronaut
Mike Foale's four-month mission on the Mir during an interview with
the British Broadcasting Corporation.

The astronauts are scheduled to go to sleep at 8:08 a.m. Following an abbreviated seven-hour sleep period, they will be awakened at 3:08 p.m. to begin the terminal phase of the two-day chase to catch the Mir. They will move quickly into their rendezvous timeline late this afternoon as Noriega sets up the rendezvous tools on the flight deck, while Precourt and Collins power up backup systems on Atlantis to support docking operations.  

     Atlantis continues to orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an
altitude of 185 x 166 statute miles with all of the Shuttle's systems
operating in excellent condition.

The next STS-84 status report will be issued at 5 p.m. Central time





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