STS-84
Report # 12 
Tuesday, May 20, 1997 - 7:00 p.m. CDT  
 
The crews aboard the Atlantis-Mir complex will begin their final full
day of joint docked operations this evening as they finish up transfer
operations and prepare for tomorrow night's undocking.

Mission Control will wake the seven person crew aboard Atlantis at
8:08 p.m. CDT this evening to begin Flight Day 7 activities.  The
three members of the Mir-23 crew will start their day about one hour
later.

At the Mission Management Team meeting earlier today, NASA officials
decided to not proceed with a request made by Russian space officials
to dump about 600 pounds of Mir condensate water through Atlantis'
waste water dump nozzles. Since the procedures to perform this work
were not completely defined and not wanting to over subscribe the
Shuttle crew on their last day of docked operations, NASA managers
decided to decline the request.

As they wrap up their transfer activities early tomorrow morning,
STS-84 Commander Charlie Precourt, and Mir-23 Commandeer Vasily
Tsibliev along with some of their crewmembers will conduct a tour of
the Mir station about at 12:30 a.m.

When they complete the movement of equipment between the two vehicles,
the two crews will review inventory lists to insure that all items
have been transferred.  Former Mir resident Jerry Linenger and the
newest member of the Mir-23 crew, Mike Foale, also will complete their
handover discussions.

With their transfer work behind him, the Atlantis and Mir crews will
hold a joint news conference, answering questions from news media in
the United States, Europe and Russia.  The crew news conference is
planned for 5:28 a.m. CDT on Wednesday.

During the conference, STS-84 Commander Precourt, Mir 23 Commander
Tsibliev along with former Mir resident Jerry Linenger and the new
member of the Mir 23 crew, Mike Foale, will hold an informal farewell
ceremony.  Precourt and Tsibliev will then shake hands one last time
and the hatches between the two vehicles will be closed.

The Atlantis crew will then install the centerline camera in the
Orbiter Docking System for use during tomorrow night's undocking.
Precourt and his crew will also review the undocking procedures before
turning in for a slightly abbreviated 7 hour sleep period.

When they wake up Wednesday evening, the STS-84 crew will immediately
begin final undocking activities.  About two hours after wake up,
Atlantis will separate from the Mir ending more than 120 hours of
docked operations.

The next MCC status report will be issued at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.




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