Space Shuttle Docks With Mir Atlantis Delivers Equipment Urgently Needed By Station
Space shuttle Atlantis slid up to Russia’s orbiting Mir station and docked Friday night to drop off equipment urgently needed to ensure the crew has breathable air.
The linkup occurred nearly 250 miles above the Adriatic Sea.
NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger was thrilled to see Atlantis, his ride home after four trying months on the aging station, and had warm words for his replacement, Michael Foale.
“Michael, welcome to your doorstep of your home,” said Linenger.
“Well, Jerry, if you’re looking at me, hi, I’m waving through the window,” Foale replied from Atlantis.
To Linenger’s delight, Atlantis pulled up right on time. Mission Control congratulated shuttle commander Charles Precourt for his “gorgeous approach and docking.”
“It is GREAT to be back here on Mir,” said Precourt, who flew on the first shuttle-Mir docking mission in 1995.
The Russian cosmonauts aboard Mir were eager to get the repair equipment arriving aboard Atlantis on this sixth docking flight.
Since Linenger arrived on Mir in January, he and the two cosmonauts have had to contend with a fire, antifreeze fumes, a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air, soaring humidity and temperatures as high as 94 degrees.
The gear includes a new oxygen generator; detectors for fumes escaping from broken equipment; a valve for a spare carbon dioxide-removal unit that has yet to be built; lithium-hydroxide canisters to purge carbon dioxide from the air; and clamps, hoses and plugs for punctured cooling loops.
The oxygen generator is the No. 1 piece of equipment and will be installed in Mir over the weekend.
Both primary oxygen generators aboard Mir broke down in March, forcing the crew to use oxygen-producing canisters similar to those believed to have caused the fire in the ValuJet crash in the Everglades a year ago. In fact, one of the Mir canisters caused the fire in February aboard the Russian station.
Several weeks ago, the Mir crew managed to get one of the primary oxygen generators working again. The new one delivered by Atlantis will replace the one still broken.
Atlantis lifted off with a crew of seven on Thursday. The shuttle will uncouple itself from Mir on Wednesday and return to Earth next Saturday with Linenger. It will return for Foale in late September.
xxxx CARE PACKAGE Also being delivered to the Mir station Friday are apples, oranges, chocolate, ice cream, and foie gras and other French delicacies, courtesy of Atlantis crewman Jean-Francois Clervoy of the European Space Agency.