STS-84
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STS-84 was a crewed spaceflight mission by
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
''Atlantis'' to the
Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...
space station A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...
.


Crew


Crew seat assignments


Mission highlights

The STS-84 mission was the sixth Shuttle/ ''Mir'' docking mission and is part of the NASA/Mir program which consisted of nine Shuttle-Mir dockings and seven long duration flights of U.S. astronauts aboard the Russian
space station A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...
. The prior Shuttle-Mir missions were
STS-71 As the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, STS-71 became the first Space Shuttle to dock with the Russian space station ''Mir''. STS-71 began on June 27, 1995, with the launch of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' from launchpad 39A ...
,
STS-74 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 miss ...
,
STS-76 STS-76 was NASA's 76th Space Shuttle mission, and the 16th mission for Space Shuttle Atlantis, ''Atlantis''. STS-76 launched on 22 March 1996 at 08:13:04 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC from Kennedy Space Center, Kennedy Space Center Launch ...
,
STS-79 STS-79 was the 17th flight of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'', and the 79th mission of the Space Shuttle program. The flight saw ''Atlantis'' dock with the Russian space station ''Mir'' to deliver equipment, supplies and to exchange personnel partici ...
and
STS-81 STS-81 was a January 1997 Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Atlantis, ''Atlantis'' mission to the Mir space station. Crew Crew seat assignments Mission highlights STS-81 was the fifth of nine planned missions to Mir and the second one involving ...
. The U.S. astronauts launched and landed on a Shuttle and served as ''Mir'' crew members while the Russian Mir crewmembers used their Soyuz vehicle for launch and landing. This series of missions expanded U.S. research on ''Mir'' by providing resupply materials for experiments to be performed aboard the station as well as returning experiment samples and data to Earth. STS-84 involved the transfer of of water and logistics to and from the ''Mir''. During the docked phase, of water, of U.S. science equipment, of Russian logistics along with of miscellaneous material were transferred to ''Mir''. Returning to Earth aboard ''Atlantis'' were of U.S. science material, of Russian logistics, of
ESA The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...
material and of miscellaneous material. Sixth Shuttle-''Mir'' docking highlighted by transfer of fourth successive U.S. crew member to the Russian Space Station. U.S. astronaut C. Michael Foale exchanged places with
Jerry Linenger Jerry Michael Linenger (born January 16, 1955) is a retired Captain in the United States Navy Medical Corps, and a former NASA astronaut who flew on the Space Shuttle and Space Station Mir. Background Born January 16, 1955, and raised in East D ...
, who arrived at ''Mir'' 15 January 1997 with the crew of Shuttle Mission STS-81. Linenger spent 123 days on ''Mir'' and just over 132 days in space from launch to landing, placing him second behind U.S. astronaut
Shannon Lucid Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid (born January 14, 1943) is an American biochemist and retired NASA astronaut. She has flown in space five times, including a prolonged mission aboard the Russian space station ''Mir'' in 1996, and is the only Americ ...
for most time spent on-orbit by an American. Another milestone reached during his stay was one-year anniversary of continuous U.S. presence in space that began with Lucid's arrival at ''Mir'' 22 March 1996. Other significant events during Linenger's stay included first U.S.-Russian space walk. On 29 April 1997 Linenger participated in five-hour extravehicular activity (EVA) with ''Mir'' 23 Commander Vasily Tsibliyev to attach a monitor to the outside of the station. The Optical Properties Monitor (OPM) was to remain on ''Mir'' for nine months to allow study of the effect of the space environment on optical properties, such as mirrors used in telescopes. On 23 February, a fire broke out on the 11-year-old station. It caused minimal damage but required station's inhabitants to wear protective masks for about 36 hours until cabin air was cleaned. Besides Linenger, crew members aboard ''Mir'' at the time included two ''Mir'' 22 cosmonauts and a German cosmonaut, and two ''Mir'' 23 cosmonauts. STS-84 docking with ''Mir'' occurred on 17 May at 02:33 UTC above the
Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
. Hatches between two spacecraft opened at 04:25 am, 17 May. Greetings exchanged between STS-84 crew and ''Mir'' 23 Commander Vasily Tsibliyev, Flight Engineer
Aleksandr Lazutkin Aleksandr Ivanovich Lazutkin (; born October 30, 1957) is a former Russian cosmonaut. Life and career Lazutkin attended the Moscow Aviation Institute and received a degree in mechanical engineering. He was selected as a cosmonaut on March 3, 19 ...
and Linenger, followed by a safety briefing. Linenger and Foale officially traded places at 14:15 UTC. Transfer of items to and from ''Mir'' proceeded smoothly and was completed ahead of schedule. One of the first items transferred to station was an Elektron oxygen-generating unit. Altogether about 249 items were moved between the two spacecraft, and about of water moved to ''Mir'', for a total of about of water, experiment samples, supplies and hardware. The research program conducted by Foale featured 35 investigations total (33 on ''Mir'', two on STS-84, and another preflight/postflight) in six disciplines: advanced technology, Earth observations and remote sensing, fundamental biology, human life sciences, space station risk mitigation, and microgravity sciences. Twenty-eight of these were conducted during previous missions and were to be continued, repeated or completed during Foale's stay. Seven new experiments were planned in biological and crystal growth studies and materials processing. Undocking occurred at 01:04 UTC on 22 May. Unlike prior dockings, no flyaround of the station by the orbiter was conducted, but the orbiter was stopped three times while backing away to collect data from a European sensor device designed to assist future rendezvous of a proposed
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
resupply vehicle with the International Space Station. Other activities conducted during the mission included investigations using the Biorack facility, located in the SPACEHAB Double Module in ''Atlantiss payload bay, a photo survey of ''Mir'' during docked operations, environmental air samplings and
radiation monitoring Radiation monitoring involves the measurement of radiation dose or radionuclide contamination for reasons related to the assessment or control of exposure to radiation or radioactive substances, and the interpretation of the results. Environment ...
. Orbiter performance was normal from launch to landing. For the mission, ''Atlantis'' was equipped with a SpaceHab Double Module, and a Orbiter Docking System.


See also

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List of human spaceflights This is a list of all crewed spaceflights throughout history. Beginning in 1961 with the flight of Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1, crewed spaceflight occurs when a human crew flies a spacecraft into outer space. Human spaceflight is distinguishe ...
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List of Space Shuttle missions The Space Shuttle is a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a sy ...
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Outline of space science The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to space science: Space science – field that encompasses all of the scientific disciplines that involve space exploration and study natural phenomena and physical bodie ...


References


External links


NASA mission summary


{{Use American English, date=January 2014 STS-084 Spacecraft launched in 1997