9-16-96 status
Bruce Buckingham
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1996 (8:30 AM EDT)
LAUNCH DAY -- FLIGHT DAY 1
KSC Public Affairs Contact: Bruce Buckingham (fax 407-867-2692)
E-mail: Bruce.Buc...@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov
MISSION: STS-79 -- 4th MIR DOCKING & SPACEHAB DM
All times are EDT
VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104
LOCATION: Orbit
OFFICIAL LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Sept. 16 at 4:54:49 a.m. EDT
TARGET MIR DOCKING: Sept. 18 at about 11:17 p.m.
TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Sept. 26 at about 8:12 a.m.
MISSION DURATION: 10 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes
CREW: Readdy, Wilcutt, Akers, Blaha (up), Lucid (down), Apt, Walz
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 196-245 statute miles/51.6 degrees
NOTE: The countdown for launch of Atlantis on mission STS-79 went smoothly
and Atlantis launched at the opening of the short five minute window.
Atlantis will now be maneuvered to begin its rendezvous with Russia's Mir
space station. Docking with Mir is set for late Wednesday evening.
Atlantis is scheduled to remain in orbit for about 10 days and land
back at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 26 at about 8:12 a.m. Returning with
Atlantis will be Shannon Lucid, ending her record breaking six-month stay on
the Mir space station.
The solid rocket booster retrieval ships have reported that all booster
components have been recovered and preparations are underway to return the
twin boosters to Hangar AF by tomorrow afternoon. Also, initial post-launch
assessments indicate minimal damage occurred at Pad 39A during launch.
The crew of mission STS-79 are: Commander Bill Readdy; Pilot Terry
Wilcutt; and Mission Specialists Jay Apt, Tom Akers, Carl Walz, John Blaha
(up), and Shannon Lucid (down).
Mission status reports are issued daily by Johnson Space Center,
Houston, TX.
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