STS-84
Report # 15 
Thursday, May 22, 1997,1 a.m. CDT  
 
 Bidding one another goodbye and."dasvedanya," Atlantis' seven
astronauts and Mir's three cosmonauts ended five days of joint
operations Wednesday night when the Shuttle undocked from the Space
Station at 8:04 p.m. high above the Ukraine, east of the capital of
Kiev.

  Atlantis' undocking from Mir was modified from previous joint
missions in that a flyaround of the station for photographic purposes
was not conducted.

  Instead, Pilot Eileen Collins guided Atlantis below the Mir after
the two spacecraft completed their physical seperation, stopping three
times at distances of 90, 300 and 1,500 feet to collect data from a
European sensor device designed to assist future rendezvous' of a
proposed European Space Agency resupply vehicle with the International
Space Station.  Once that was completed, the shuttle took advantage of
natural orbital mechanics to drift beneath and out in front of Mir as
it faded from view.

  As a final farewell shortly after undocking, Atlantis' astronauts
sang."The Cosmonauts' Song" to Mir-23 crew members Vasily Tsibliev,
Alexander Lazutkin and astronaut Mike Foale, who is beginning his
four-month research mission on Mir. Foale and his new crewmates played
music as Atlantis departed following the joint phase of the flight.

  In all, 7,537 pounds of water and supplies was transferred between
Atlantis and the Mir during the five days of joint activity between
the crew members.  3,870 pounds of supplies was delivered to the Mir,
while items totaling 2,630 pounds were moved to Atlantis for the trip
back to Earth.  More than a thousand pounds of water was delivered to
the Mir for use by the cosmonauts.

  Following undocking, science work continued as Mission Specialist
Elena Kondakova worked with plant experiments in the Biorack facility.

  Jerry Linenger, in the homestretch of his four month stay on orbit,
continued a daily regime of exercise on a treadmill installed on the
Shuttle's middeck floor.  Commander Charlie Precourt acted as an
observer, collecting data on the treadmill's operation.

  With the major objectives of their mission now complete, the
astronauts will begin an eight hour sleep period about noon and will
receive a wake up call from Mission Control shortly after 8
p.m. tonight to begin the routine pre-landing checkout of Atlantis'
systems for its planned return to Earth Saturday morning at the
Kennedy Space Center.

  Atlantis continues to orbit the Earth at an altitude of about 237
statute miles, completing one orbit of the Earth every 92 minutes. All
of Atlantis' systems are functioning normally.

  The next STS-84 status report will be issued late this afternoon.

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