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November 15, 1995
Web posted at: 10:30 a.m. EST
From Correspondent John Holliman and wire reports
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Space shuttle Atlantis docked flawlessly with the Russian space station Mir on Wednesday. (608K QuickTime movie) The second link-up of the two spacecraft in the past four months occurred at 1:28 a.m. EST, 245 miles above the Earth.
Two and a half hours later, after a series of leak checks, shuttle commander Kenneth Cameron pulled open a hatch separating the spaceships (908K QuickTime movie), allowing astronauts and cosmonauts to shake hands and exchange gifts and greetings in weightless space. (648K QuickTime movie) Later, the four Americans and one Canadian aboard Atlantis posed for a formal portrait with the two Russians and one German aboard Mir.
Welcome in space -- calling on the neighbors
Wednesday's docking was considered more potentially dangerous than the first in late June because of a 15-foot docking tunnel jutting out of the shuttle cargo bay. The Russian-built tunnel, designed to make future dockings safer, was attached to Atlantis Tuesday. The tunnel will remain part of Mir after Atlantis leaves on Saturday.
Flying blindAs he inched Atlantis toward the 125-ton station and its sprawling array of antennas and solar panels, Cameron couldn't see the top of the docking tunnel. He relied on radar, lasers and video monitors showing various camera angles. "It can't be done any better than that," NASA's Mission Control told Cameron, a three-time astronaut and former test pilot. "This bird flew beautifully," the shuttle commander replied.
About 50 NASA personnel, including astronauts scheduled to travel to Mir next year, watched the docking on huge TV screens at the Russian Mission Control outside Moscow. Wilbur Trafton from the NASA space station program called the successful docking a proud moment. (90K AIFF sound or 90K WAV sound)
The astronauts and cosmonauts will spend the next three days ferrying supplies and equipment from one spaceship to the other. Atlantis is due back on Earth next Monday. The German and two Russians aboard Mir, who arrived September 5, are not due back until the end of February.
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