Atlantis docked to Mir
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Mission type | Shuttle-Mir |
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Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1995-061A |
SATCAT no. | 23714 |
Mission duration | 8 days, 04 hours, 31 minutes, 42 seconds |
Distance travelled | 5,500,000 kilometres (3,400,000 mi) |
Orbits completed | 128 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Atlantis |
Launch mass | 112,358 kilograms (247,707 lb) |
Landing mass | 92,701 kilograms (204,371 lb) |
Payload mass | 6,134 kilograms (13,523 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 5 |
Members |
Kenneth D. Cameron James D. Halsell Chris A. Hadfield Jerry L. Ross William S. McArthur, Jr. |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 12 November 1995, 12:30:43.071 | UTC
Launch site | Kennedy LC-39A |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 20 November 1995, 17:01:27 | UTC
Landing site | Kennedy SLF Runway 33 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Perigee | 391 kilometres (243 mi) |
Apogee | 396 kilometres (246 mi) |
Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
Period | 92.4 min |
Docking with Mir | |
Docking port | SO starboard |
Docking date | 15 November 1995, 06:27:38 UTC |
Undocking date | 18 November 1995, 08:15:44 UTC |
Time docked | 3 days, 1 hours, 48 minutes 6 seconds |
Left to right: Halsell, Cameron; Standing: McArthur, Ross, Hadfield |
STS-74 was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, and the second docking of the Space Shuttle with Mir. Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A on 12 November 1995. The mission ended 8 days later with the landing of Atlantis back at Kennedy. It was the second in a series of seven straight missions to the station flown by Atlantis.
The shuttle delivered a pair of solar arrays along with the Russian-built Mir Docking Module to allow docking with the station by the space shuttle without moving Mir's Kristall module. During the three-day docking, the Russian, Canadian, and American crew transferred supplies and equipment between Atlantis and Mir, moved several long-term experiments, and upgraded the station with new equipment, particularly during the installation of the docking module.
The crew's preparation for the mission had begun some thirteen months earlier in 1994, with the crew being trained in the operation of the space shuttle, the mating and docking procedures that would be required as Atlantis approached Mir later in the mission, and the management of the various scientific experiments being carried on the orbiter during the mission.
Preparation of Atlantis itself for mission STS-74 began with the replacement of three thrusters in Atlantis's right-hand Orbital Maneuvering System pod in bay 2 of the Orbiter Processing Facility on 25 August 1995. Installation of the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) on Atlantis was completed on 5 September 1995, as were closeout operations on the Russian docking module.