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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1996 (5:51 AM EST) LAUNCH DAY -- Flight Day 1 KSC Public Affairs Contact: Bruce Buckingham (fax 407-867-2692) E-mail: Bruce.Buckingham-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov MISSION: STS-76 -- 3rd MIR DOCKING & SPACEHAB VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104 LOCATION: orbit OFFICIAL LAUNCH DATE/TIME: March 22 at 3:13:04 a.m. EST (on time) MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 3 hours, 50 minutes MIR DOCKING: March 23 at about 9:34 p.m. BEGIN SIX HOUR SPACEWALK: March 27 at about 12:45 a.m. MIR UNDOCKING: March 28 at about 8:08 p.m. TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: March 31 at about 7:03 a.m. EST CREW SIZE: 6 up -- 5 down ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 184 statute miles/51.6 degrees All times are EST NOTE: Space Shuttle Atlantis, on mission STS-76, was launched on time today at 3:13:04 a.m. EST. No serious problems were encountered by the launch team from the time external tanking operations commenced last night at about 6 p.m. through the terminal phase of the countdown this morning. All aspects of the countdown occurred on schedule. The crew of mission STS-76 are: Commander Kevin Chilton; Pilot Richard Searfoss; and Mission Specialists Shannon Lucid, Linda Godwin, Rich Clifford and Ronald Sega. Atlantis is scheduled to dock with the Mir space station at about 9:34 p.m. EST on Saturday, March 23. Atlantis will remain docked with Mir for about 5 days. Atlantis is scheduled to land back at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility at about 7 a.m. on March 31. The solid rocket booster retrieval ships are currently en route to the booster splash down area. Once there, an initial assessment of the spent boosters will be made. An assessment will also be made to determine if the high seas will permit recovery operations to begin today. At this time, the boosters are not expected back at Port Canaveral until Sunday morning. Mission status reports are issued daily by the Johnson Space Center.