HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 165.01 FROM AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD, JUNE 14, 1998

TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS

BID: $ANS-165.01



The United States began its last flight to the Russian Mir Space Station on

Tuesday, June 2, 1998, with a flawless, on-time liftoff, and ended the

mission with favorable weather conditions and a near-perfect landing at the

Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, June 12th. The mission returned

home US astronaut Andy Thomas after more than four months in orbit aboard

Mir, marking the official end of NASA's Shuttle-Mir program.



On Sunday, June 7th the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the Discovery-Mir

complex were actively working on the final transfer of water and logistical

supplies, in preparation for undocking of the two spacecraft. A photo and

video survey of the interior of the Russian space station was also on the

agenda. Approximately 1200 pounds of water and almost 4,700 pounds of

resupply material or return items were moved between the two vehicles

before the hatches between the two spacecraft were closed for the final

time.



After the hatches were closed, the Shuttle and Mir separated on time while

flying above Russia, southwest of Moscow and north of the Ukrainian border.

Following separation, STS-91 Pilot Dom Gorie maneuvered the shuttle away

from the Mir. He then performed a nose-forward fly-around of Mir allowing

the Shuttle to reach a point approximately 240 feet directly in front of

the space station.



By Wednesday, June 10th, several records had been achieved. Mission

Specialist Franklin Chang-Diaz broke the previous record for time spent on

board the space shuttle, as he passed the mark of 1,211 hours set by

astronaut Jeff Hoffman over the course of five missions. STS-91 was

Chang-Diaz's sixth space flight.  In another first, navigational data on

board Discovery was updated using data from the Global Positioning Satel

lite system, marking the inaugural use of the GPS satellite constellation

to provide navigational information to a manned spacecraft in orbit.



On Thursday, the seven astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery

completed most of their pre-landing packing and made sure that all of the

systems needed for landing were working well.



The successful landing on Friday, June 12th, culminated 977 total days

spent in orbit by the seven U.S. astronauts who have stayed aboard Mir

since the Shuttle-Mir program began. Of those, 907 days were spent as

actual Mir crewmembers. Friday's landing also marked the end of an 812-day

continuous U.S. presence in space.



[ANS thanks NASA for this information]