MISSION CONTROL CENTER STATUS REPORT # 6
STS-91
FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1998  - 6 a.m. CDT

  Following his first night as a member of Discovery's crew, Andy
Thomas and the rest of the STS-91 astronauts were awakened this
morning at 3:06 a.m. Central time to the sounds of "South Australia,"
honoring Thomas who is a native of Adelaide in South Australia.

  The nine astronauts and cosmonauts aboard Discovery-Mir are spending
their first full day of joint operations continuing the transfer of
about four tons of logistical supplies and equipment.

  Much of the day will be spent transferring water, scientific gear
and other hardware between the two spacecraft.  The crew members
transferred five bags of water to the Mir by the end of the day
yesterday, with an additional seven or eight bags expected to be
transferred by the time Discovery undocks from the Mir on Monday.

  Also on tap today is the deactivation, disassembly and transfer of
the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) from Mir to
Discovery.  SAMS records fluctuations in the microgravity environment
so researchers can learn where regions of high acceleration forces
exist and avoid those areas for experiment placement.

  Discovery's astronauts also will monitor mid-deck science activities
and payload operations, and also will move metabolic samples from the
Mir to the Shuttle for return to Earth.

  Later today, the astronauts and cosmonauts will take time from their
activities to discuss their joint mission in interviews with CNN and
the Voice of America. That interviews will begin at 3:20 p.m. Central
time and will be seen on NASA Television through Russian TV systems
since Discovery's KU-band communication antenna is still experiencing
problems down-linking Shuttle TV.

  The Discovery-Mir space complex is orbiting the Earth at an altitude
of about 208 nautical miles with both spacecrafts' systems operating
in excellent shape.

  The next STS-91 status report will be issued at about 6 p.m. Central
time Friday.

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