May 15, 1997 - STS-84 launch. To rendevous and pick up Jerry Linenger and drop off U.S. astronaut Michael Foale for a four-month stay.

September 18, 1997 STS-86 launch. Wendy Lawrence to replace Michael Foale.

MAXIMOV-MIR http://www.maximov.com/Mir/mir2.html

NASA SHUTTLE-MIR http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov/

MSFC NASA MIR http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/mol/mir/mir.html

Ted Brattstrom's MIR page
http://165.248.121.94/MIR.html

Space Station MIR has had a number of difficulties in the last few months begining with an onboard fire in the secondary O2 generating system, and carrying on to problems with the CO2 scrubbers and a breakdown of the primary O2 generating system. More recently a series of coolant leaks has occured and all but one has been sealed. This has lead to elevated temperatures in one of the modules and the increased possibility of a need to evacuate the space station.

With the recent arrival of a Progress freighter carrying supplies and replacement parts, the crew has been busy repairing the various systems. Additional parts will arrive at MIR with the May launch of Atlantis.

The cooling system is the current "worry" and the coolant leak in the main module has caused the temperatures and humidity onboard to rise. The space station has been repositioned so that the solar panels shade the hot module, and ducts have been placed to send the cool air from the other modules into the warm one. The position of the station has reduced the power available, however, this hasn't been critical.

(Amateur Radio note: the radio equipment is off, except for scheduled contacts between Linenger and schools)

Due to all the repair activity, the cosmonauts haven't been exercising the required amount, however, as of last week, they are back to the normal regime. A daily workout is required for an easier transition back to life on Earth.

Tsibliev and Linenger successfully performed a 5 hour spacewalk on Tuesday (29 April 1997). They tested their new "Orlan-M" spacesuits which will be used for the assembly of the International Space Station. They reported their new visors worked perfectly, preventing fogging even during strenuous activity. They also deployed environmental sensor packages and radiation meters and retreive two micrometeorite experiments which have been in place for the past year.

April 25, 1997 is Tsibliev's and Lazutkin's 74th day aboard Mir since their launch in February, and the 103rd day aloft for Linenger.

MISSION DURATION:
9 days, 3 hours, 45 minutes

CREW:

Charles J. Precourt Mission Commander
Eileen M. Collins, Pilot
C. Michael Foale, Mission Specialist
Carlos I. Noriega, Mission Specialist
Edward T. Lu, Mission Specialist
Jean-Francois Clervoy, (ESA) Mission Specialist
Elena V. Kondakova, (RSA) Mission Specialist

NASA Space Shuttle Current Status
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao /status/stsstat/current.htm

The NASA Shuttle Web
http://shuttle.nasa.gov/

Future Shuttle Missions
http://www.osf.hq.nasa.gov/shuttle/futsts.html

STS News Reference Manual
http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle /technology/sts-newsref /stsref-toc.html

The STS-83 mission, with its primary payload, the Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1, featuring 19 materials science investigations) was launched on April 4th, 1997 for a 16 day mission, was required to return after only 4 days due to the failure of one of Columbia's three electricity-generating fuel cells. STS-83 is scheduled to be reflown on July 1, 1997.

FLIGHT -- ORBITER -- DATE

STS-84 -- Atlantis -- May 15, 1997

STS-83 -- Columbia -- July 1, 1997

STS-85 -- Discovery -- July 17, 1997

STS-86 -- Atlantis -- September 18, 1997

STS-87 -- Columbia -- October 9, 1997

STS-88 -- Endeavour -- December 4, 1997

STS SPECS:
Crew Capacity: 8 (10 could be carried in an emergency)
Max Acceleration Load < 3Gs.
Orbital Altitude: 100 to 217 nautical miles.
Cargo bay dimensions: 15 feet diameter, 60 feet long.
Basic Mission Length: 7 days in space

ORBITERS:
Enterprise (OV-101): used for Approach and Landing Tests, the Enterprise now is property of the Smithsonian Institution and is at Dulles Airport, Va.
Columbia (OV-102): the first operational orbiter, STS-1 first launched on 12 April 81.
Challenger (OV-099): the second orbiter, flew 10 missions between 1983 and 1986 for a combined total of 69 days in space. On January 28, 1986, Challenger and her crew were lost in a launch accident.
Discovery (OV-103): the third orbiter, Discovery has flown 22 missions since its maiden voyage on August 30, 1984.
Atlantis: (OV-104): Atlantis has flown 18 missions since its first launch on October 3, 1985.
Endeavour: (OV-105): Replacing the Challenger and completing the 4-orbiter space shuttle fleet, Endeavor has flown 11 missions since its first launch on May 5, 1992.

PHASE I - SHUTTLE/MIR - 1994-1997 Remaining Phase I Shuttle Missions:
STS-84 May 1997 Atlantis/Mir
STS-86 Sep 1997 Atlantis/Mir

PHASE II - ASSEMBLY - 1997-1999
15 flights; 7 Russian, 7 U.S., 1 combined.
(Phase II completion = 3 person permanent crew)

PHASE III - ASSEMBLY - 1999-2002
29 flights: 21 U.S., 7 Russian, 1 French

ISS assembly will require 44 flights and take over 4.5 years to complete.

NASA International Space Station
http://issa-www.jsc.nasa.gov /index.shtml

Space Station This Week
http://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov /NASA.Projects/Human.Space.Flight /Space.Station /Space.Station.This.Week/

Space Station Web - MSFC
http://snail.msfc.nasa.gov /station/welcome.html

ISS - Office of Space Flight - NASA HQ http://www.osf.hq.nasa.gov/iss/

Hardware:
The the first of 37 power modules required for the Space Station's U.S. Laboratory was delivered to Marshall Space Flight Center on April 18.

Wetware:
161 California middle and high school students and teachers toured the new Space Station Assembly and Test Facility at McDonnel Douglas in Huntington Beach, California. The students are being encouraged to pursue studies in math and science.
(From Space Station This Week - April 28, 1997)

Remaining Phase I Shuttle Missions:
STS-84 May 1997 Atlantis/Mir (U.S. astronaut transfer)
STS-86 Sep 1997 Atlantis/Mir (U.S. astronaut pickup)

PHASE II, the assembly phase, begins with a U.S./Russian mission in November 1997.

SPECS:

Total Crew Size = 6
Altitude: 190 to 230 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: ~ 51.6 degrees
Total pressurized volume: ~ 46,200 cubic feet

International Partners:

Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, United States