Tim Furniss/LONDON
THE SPACE SHUTTLE STS63/Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center on 11 February after an eight-day 6h mission, which included a rendezvous with the Russian Mir 1 space station on 6 February.
The rendezvous was a major step towards the planned seven Shuttle docking missions with the Mir, scheduled to begin with a launch on 8 June. In a simulation of a similar docking approach to be made by its sister ship, the Atlantis/STS 71, the Discovery was manoeuvred to within 11.2m (37ft) of the Mir, 1.5m less than planned.
Two of the orbiter's, reaction-control-system thrusters, which were leaking nitrogen-tetroxide propellant, had been turned off, to prevent feared contamination of the space station. After 10min, the Discovery pilots backed off and flew around the station at a distance of 121m.
VHF communications between the Shuttle and the Mir 1 were also demonstrated by the STS63. Communications from a distance of 40km (20nm) are planned eventually and the Shuttle and Mir commanders will assume more in-flight responsibility and control during the docking missions.
On 9 February, a space-walk by Bernard Harris and UK-born Michael Foale was cut by about 30min, when the astronauts complained of intensely cold fingers.
They had been evaluating modified spacesuits designed to prevent overheating and to support space-walks planned for the space station, which would also take place in temperatures as low as -87¡C.
When assessing the handling of large objects in space, using the retrieved Spartan free-flier, Harris experienced difficulty holding the cold spacecraft and the space-walk was curtailed at 4h 39min.
The STS63 launch on 3 February, during a 5min window, was a demonstration of the routine launches which will have to be made during the Mir docking flights and for Alpha missions.
Source: Flight International
