The Space Shuttle Atlantis/STS76 is due for a 03:35h launch on 21 March, to dock with the Mir 1 space station. The Columbia, meanwhile, landed on 9 March at the end of its troubled STS75 mission, during which the Italian Tethered Satellite was lost (Flight International, 6-12 March). The extended 15-day 17h mission brought to 1,000 days US manned space flight experience, compared with over 5,000 days by the former Soviet Union and Russia. Jeff Hoffman, on his fifth Shuttle mission, became the first astronaut to exceed 50 days Shuttle flight time. See feature, P29.
Source: Flight International