(-07-) Date: 10 February 1995
Subject: The Space Shuttle/Space Station Mir Rendezvous
From: NASA Press Kit
RENDEZVOUS WITH RUSSIAN SPACE STATION HIGHLIGHTS FIRST
SHUTTLE FLIGHT OF 1995
A significant step in the growing cooperative effort between the United
States and Russia took place during NASA's first Shuttle mission of the
year when Discovery and her crew performed a rendezvous and fly around
of the Russian Space Station Mir in preparation for a Shuttle/Mir docking
mission due to take place later this year.
"As we are bringing our space ships closer together, we are bringing
our nations closer together," said STS-63 Commander Jim Wetherbee after
Discovery reached the point of closest approach. "The next time we
approach, we will shake your hand and together we will lead our world
into the next millennium."
The two spacecraft came within 37 feet of each other. The rendezvous
validated a number of flight techniques that will be employed on
subsequent docking missions. These techniques include the use of
precision flying as the Shuttle closes in on Mir and demonstrating the
joint operations between Mission Control Centers in Houston, and
Kaliningrad, Russia.
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- T o d d E. V a n H o o s e a r -
``'''vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu - vanhoose@msu.edu - vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu
(._.) Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI USA
(_) Computer Laboratory - Department of Communication
`---' <A HREF="http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/">My Home Page</A>
"Give me ambiguity or give me something else."
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