This might be one of the best photos of the Space Shuttle in history (in my opinion, the best) – even if it’s not the best, it’s definitely one of the most interesting: On November 15, 1995, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev (Sergey Avdeev) took a photo of Space Shuttle Atlantis as it was preparing to dock with the Russian Mir space station during the STS-74 mission. At that moment, NASA astronauts crowding around the windows of Atlantis created a fantastic scene. The photo also gives a hint of the Shuttle’s enormous size.
STS-74 was the first space flight of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who would later go on to command the International Space Station. Hadfield served as Mission Specialist 1 on STS-74. He recalls that day with these words:
“Such a cool and complex photo to set up. The sunlight in our eyes was impossibly bright as we waited for Sergei Avdeev to take a series of photos from his bedroom window on space station Mir. Then we retrieved the film from him and returned it to Earth. Glad this one turned out so well – an amazing, cooperative moment in time and space.”
It’s hard to tell who is who besides Chris Hadfield (thanks to his recognizable mustache), but I’ll give it a try. My guess from left to right:
- Kenneth D. Cameron (Commander)
- Jerry L. Ross (Mission Specialist 2, I’m almost sure about this one)
- James D. Halsell Jr. (Pilot)
- William McArthur Jr. (Mission Specialist 3)
- and of course, Chris Hadfield (Mission Specialist 1).
I’m not very confident about the others except for Ross and Hadfield.
STS-74 Mission
STS-74 was the fourth mission in the U.S./Russian Shuttle-Mir program and marked the second time the Space Shuttle docked with the Mir space station. Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A on November 12, 1995, and concluded the mission eight days later with a landing back at Kennedy. This was the second of seven consecutive missions to the Russian Space Station carried out by Atlantis. The first Space Shuttle-Mir docking was also carried out by Atlantis on June 29, 1995, during the STS-71 mission.
The planned rendezvous with Mir required a brief launch window of approximately seven minutes. The initial liftoff, scheduled for November 11, was delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) sites. However, the countdown on the following day proceeded smoothly, leading to an on-time launch.
During the first docking conducted by Atlantis, a crew transfer took place between the Shuttle and the Mir Space Station. The STS-71 crew, consisting of five NASA astronauts and two Roscosmos cosmonauts, passed into Mir for a welcoming ceremony. NASA astronaut Norman Thagard, who had previously traveled to Mir on the Russian Mir 18 mission, returned to Earth aboard STS-71, while the two cosmonauts carried into space by STS-71, Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin, remained on Mir. STS-71 also brought back to Earth two other cosmonauts from Mir, Gennady Strekalov and Vladimir Dezhurov.
STS-74, on the other hand, focused on the delivery of equipment to Mir. The mission’s primary payload was a Russian-built Docking Module (DM), designed to serve as a permanent extension of Mir, providing better clearance for Shuttle-Mir dockings. The DM also carried two stowed solar arrays intended for later transfer to Mir by spacewalking cosmonauts.
Flight Day 1 [November 12]
About 43 minutes after launch, a 2-minute engine burn placed the shuttle into a 162-nautical-mile circular orbit. The crew then prepared Atlantis for on-orbit operations, opening the payload bay doors about 90 minutes into the flight and receiving a “go” for continued operations.
Three hours into the mission, Commander Ken Cameron and Pilot Jim Halsell initiated the first of several rendezvous burns to adjust Atlantis’s path toward Mir Space Station. Around this time, Canadian mission specialist Chris Hadfield activated the Russian-built docking module in the payload bay, preparing it for docking with Atlantis’s Orbiter Docking System on the second day of the flight.
Flight Day 2 [November 13]
On their first full day in space, the five-member crew of Atlantis focused on preparing the orbiter and its payloads for the upcoming docking operations with the Russian Mir space station. They readied the Russian docking module and the Orbiter Docking System, both housed in Atlantis’s payload bay, for mating on November 14, followed by the docking with Mir on November 15.
Mission Specialists Jerry Ross and Bill McArthur inspected spacesuits in case a spacewalk was needed, while Chris Hadfield powered up the orbiter’s robotic arm to transfer the docking module. The crew also tested the Advanced Space Vision System for precise alignment during the docking process and installed a camera to assist with final piloting tasks.
As Space Shuttle Atlantis closed in on Mir, the crew also participated in a press event with Canadian reporters. With all systems checked and ready, the crew ended their day with a scheduled 8-hour sleep period.
Flight Day 3 [November 14]
Hadfield operated the RMS robotic arm to lift the Docking Module (DM) from its stowed position in the aft section of the payload bay, rotated it to a vertical orientation, and positioned it within five inches above the Orbiter Docking System (ODS) in the forward part of the bay. The ODS, used on all Shuttle-Mir docking flights, acts as the passageway between the two spacecraft. Commander Cameron then fired the downward steering jets to push Atlantis against the DM.
Once the mating was confirmed, the robotic arm was released from the DM, the hatches between the DM and ODS were opened, and a centerline camera was mounted inside the top hatch of the DM.
The centerline camera later provided the primary visual reference for Cameron as he maneuvered Atlantis for its docking with Mir on flight day four.
By 5:00 am EST (10:00 UTC), Space Shuttle Atlantis was trailing Mir by approximately 1,450 statute miles and closing in at a rate of about 180 statute miles per orbit. A series of rendezvous jet firings further refined the closing rate, leading up to the docking with Mir at 06:27:38 UTC on November 15.
Flight Day 4 and Docking with the Mir Space Station [November 15]
Atlantis successfully caught up with the Mir space station on November 15. The Terminal Phase Initiation (TI) burn was executed with Atlantis positioned eight nautical miles (9.2 statute miles/14.8 kilometers) behind Mir, marking the start of the final rendezvous phase. Around this time, air-to-air communications commenced between Atlantis and the Mir 20 crew. The approach to Mir was conducted along the R-bar, with Atlantis closing in from directly below, similar to the approach during the STS-71 mission. The shuttle crew used handheld lasers during the final approach to supplement the orbiter’s navigational equipment in determining distance and closing rates.
The manual phase of the rendezvous began when Atlantis was approximately half a mile (804.7 meters) from Mir, with Commander Cameron taking control of the orbiter using the aft flight deck controls. At a distance of 170 feet (51.8 meters) from Mir, Cameron paused the approach while Mir was maneuvered into alignment for docking. Following clearance from flight directors in Moscow and Houston, Cameron moved Atlantis to within 30 feet (9.1 meters) of Mir, pausing momentarily again for final adjustments. The elbow camera on the RMS arm served as the key visual aid during the final approach.
The hatches between Mir and Atlantis were opened at 4:02 a.m. EST on November 15. The five shuttle astronauts then moved into Mir, ready to begin three days of joint operations with Mir’s resident crew, Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Avdeyev (from the Mir EO-20 expedition) and ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter (from the Euromir 95 expedition). During the mated operations, nearly 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms) of water were transferred to Mir, and various experiment samples, including blood, urine, and saliva, were prepared for return to Earth.
The shuttle crew also delivered gifts, including Canadian maple sugar candies and a guitar (the second on Mir). Additionally, lithium hydroxide canisters were transferred to Mir as a contingency measure in case the station’s environmental control system failed again, requiring the air to be “scrubbed.”
Once all required checks were completed and the hatches were opened, STS-74 and Mir crews exchanged handshakes and hugs before participating in a traditional gift exchange, swapping flowers and chocolates between the crews.
Flight Days 5-8 [November 16-19]
During three days of joint Shuttle-Mir operations, the Atlantis crew transferred various items to the Mir space station, including water, supplies, equipment, and two new solar arrays, one Russian and one jointly developed, to upgrade the Mir Space Station. They also brought back experiment samples, repair equipment, products manufactured on Mir, and the University of California Berkeley’s Trek Experiment, which had been aboard Mir for four years.
Atlantis also carried the GPP payload, which included two experiments: the GPP experiment and the Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment (PASDE). Managed by Goddard Space Flight Center, GPP studied Earth’s thermosphere, ionosphere, and mesosphere, and observed interactions between the shuttle and the atmosphere. PASDE recorded data on the structural response of Mir’s solar arrays during the docked phase, which was later analyzed to improve cost and risk management for the International Space Station.
On November 18 at 08:15:44 UTC, Atlantis undocked from Mir, leaving the docking module permanently attached to the Kristall module to provide clearance for future Shuttle-Mir docking.
Flight Day 9 and Landing [November 20]
On flight day 9, the crew focused on preparations for landing and the landing itself. Atlantis performed its deorbit burn during orbit 128 at approximately 11:00 am EST (16:00 UTC), leading to a landing at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on Runway 33 of the Shuttle Landing Facility.
Atlantis touched down at 12:01:27 pm EST (17:01:27 UTC) on November 20, marking the end of the STS-74 mission. The main landing gear made contact first, followed by the nose gear 10 seconds later. The wheels came to a complete stop at 12:02:24 pm EST (17:02:24 UTC), concluding the 73rd space shuttle mission with a mission elapsed time (MET) of 8 days, 4 hours, 31 minutes, and 42 seconds.
Sources
- STS-74 on Wikipedia
- STS-74 Mission on the NASA website
- STS-74 Fact Sheet by Cliff Lethbridge on the Space Line website
