Shuttle Zips Toward Rendevous With Mir Atlantis Scheduled To Dock With Space Station Today
The shuttle Atlantis on Friday sped toward a rendezvous with Russia’s Mir space station, where American Mike Foale awaits arrival of his replacement, astronaut David Wolf.
The spacecraft are scheduled to link up shortly before 1 p.m. PDT today, as they race in formation more than 240 miles above the Earth.
Though U.S. and Russians officials reported that the spaceships were prepared for the delicate task of docking, they refined procedures to deal with any last-minute problem that might crop up with Mir’s troubled guidance system computer.
Earlier this week, the computer faltered for a third time in as many weeks. Each time, the failure sends the orbital outpost temporarily rolling slowly out of control. Power generation is disrupted until control can be restored.
Ground controllers in Houston and in suburban Moscow agreed Friday that the linkup - NASA’s seventh with Mir - could proceed if the device faltered with the shuttle within 30 feet. If the computer were to break down at a greater distance, the Atlantis crew would likely back away until the device could be fixed.
“We’re on our way to Mir,” gushed shuttle commander James Wetherbee as the separation between the spaceships dwindled to less than 2,000 miles late Friday.
Wetherbee seemed at least as eager for the orbital linkup as Foale or Wolf, whose participation in the flight did not clear final NASA safety assessments until a few hours before Thursday night’s liftoff.
In February 1995, Wetherbee steered the shuttle Discovery to within 30 feet of Mir without docking as part of an elaborate dress rehearsal for the first linkup four months later.
“Rendezvous are all pretty much the same when you really get down to it,” Wetherbee said shortly before liftoff. “The thing I’m looking forward to is the last 30 feet.”
His six-member crew of Russian and French cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts worked Friday to keep the linkup on schedule. They positioned the shuttle’s docking mechanism and tested the navigational aids that will be required to bring the two spacecraft together.
And in an interview with National Public Radio, Wolf was asked if he was concerned for his safety as he prepares to board Mir.
“I’m concerned as I would be on any spacecraft,” said Wolf, a 41-year-old physician. “But Mir is in excellent condition to my mind. I’m looking forward to being over there.”
He and Foale plan to swap places Sunday.
Atlantis will be able to remain docked with Mir until Friday, allowing an 8,000-pound cargo exchange and a spacewalk by shuttle crewmen Scott Parazynski and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov.
The shuttle carries a new Russian guidance computer for Mir, nine large storage batteries to improve the station’s power deficit and water.