STS-74 was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle–Mir program, and the second docking of the Space Shuttle with Mir. Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A on 12 November 1995. The mission ended 8 days later with the landing of Atlantis back at Kennedy. It was the second in a series of seven straight missions to the station flown by Atlantis. The shuttle delivered a pair of solar arrays along with the Russian-built Mir Docking Module to allow docking with the station by the space shuttle without moving Mir's Kristall module. During the three-day docking, the Russian, Canadian, and American crew transferred supplies and equipment between Atlantis and Mir, moved several long-term experiments, and upgraded the station with new equipment, particularly during the installation of the docking module.
Crew
Crew seat assignments
Mission background The crew's preparation for the mission had begun some thirteen months earlier in 1994, with the crew being trained in the operation of the space shuttle, the mating and docking procedures that would be required as Atlantis approached Mir later in the mission, and the management of the various scientific experiments being carried on the orbiter during the mission. Preparation of Atlantis itself for mission STS-74 began with the replacement of three thrusters in Atlantis's right-hand Orbital Maneuvering System pod in bay 2 of the Orbiter Processing Facility on 25 August 1995. Installation of the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) on Atlantis was completed on 5 September 1995, as were closeout operations on the Russian docking module. On 7 November, engineers determined that there was no additional work needed to verify the solid rocket boosters for flight, following discovery of small cracks in the hold-down posts attached to boosters that had flown earlier that year. Close inspections of the STS-74 stack determined that no such cracks were present on the boosters to be used for the mission. Pad 39A was cleared on 9 November in preparation for loading of the onboard cryogenic tanks with the cryogenic oxygen and hydrogen reactants that provided electricity through the three onboard fuel cells, and water for the flight as a by-product. The initial launch attempt, scheduled for 11 November 1995 at 7:56 am EST (12:56 UTC) was postponed due to poor weather at the Transatlantic Abort (TAL) site. The original launch window was 6 min 57 secs and the countdown had begun on schedule. The crew was on board when the postponement was called at the T-minus 5 minute mark at approximately 7:51 am EST (12:51 UTC).
Mission timeline
12 November (launch and flight day 1)
Following a poll of the mission management team at 7:12 am EST in which all stations (with the exception of the Shuttle Range Officer) returned a "go for launch" and the eventual clearance of the range for launch at 7:20 am EST, Atlantis raced into the sky at the beginning of a 10-minute, 9-second launch window following a flawless countdown with no unscheduled holds. The shuttle lifted off the pad at 7:30:43 am EST; the main engines were shut down at 7:39 am EST. About 43 minutes after launch, a 2-minute and 13 second engine firing changed the shuttle's path into a 162 nautical mile circular orbit. Once on orbit, the five crew members began configuring Atlantis for on-orbit operations. Atlantis's payload bay doors were opened about 90 minutes into the flight, followed by a "go" for on-orbit operations. Approximately three hours into the flight, Commander Ken Cameron and Pilot Jim Halsell fired the orbiter's reaction control thrusters in the first of a series of rendezvous burns that refined Atlantis's path towards Mir. Shortly after the burn, the first Canadian mission specialist, Chris Hadfield, activated the Russian-built docking module, housed in the shuttle's payload bay, ready for the docking of the module with Atlantis's Orbiter Docking System on flight day 2.
13 November (flight day 2) The five-member crew aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis spent the bulk of their first full day in space readying the orbiter and its payloads for the 14 November mating of the Russian docking module to the Orbiter Docking System in advance of the 15 November docking to Mir. Both the module and the docking system were located in Atlantis's payload bay. Mission specialists Jerry Ross and Bill McArthur inspected the spacesuits they would don should a spacewalk become necessary during the mating or docking operations. Following the space suit inspection, Mission Specialist Chris Hadfield powered up the orbiter's robot arm in preparation for the next day's transfer of the docking module over to Atlantis's docking system. All systems affiliated with the robot arm operated as expected and were ready to support the mating. The crew members also checked out the Advanced Space Vision System, a precise alignment system for the robot arm that was tested on STS-74. The OSVS, which was used during the mating operation, consisted of a series of large dots placed on the exterior of the docking module and the docking system. The day's schedule also included the installation and alignment of the centerline camera in the centre of the Orbiter Docking System. The camera later assisted Commander Ken Cameron in final piloting tasks as Atlantis moved towards and docked with Mir. At 5:00 am CST (11:00 UTC) on day 2, Atlantis was about 4,000 statute miles behind Mir, and was closing in to the space station at a rate of about 380 statute miles per orbit. Cameron, Hadfield and other available crew members also spent the morning answering questions posed by Canadian reporters located in Montreal and Toronto. Hadfield, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, was the fourth Canadian astronaut to fly on the shuttle. With all of the systems that were to put the Russian Docking Module in place for a flight day 4 link-up with Mir checked out and ready to go, the STS-74 crew settled down for 8 hours of sleep that afternoon.
14 November (flight day 3)
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