- VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
- LOCATION: On orbit
- OFFICIAL KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: June 2 at 6:06:24 p.m. EDT
- MIR DOCKING DATE/TIME: June 4 at about 12:55 p.m. EDT
- MIR UNDOCKING DATE/TIME: June 8 at about 11:57 a.m. EDT
- KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: June 12 at about 1:59 a.m. EDT
- MISSION DURATION: about 9 days, 19 hours, 53 minutes
- CREW: Precourt, Gorie, Lawrence, Chang-Diaz, Kavandi, Ryumin, Thomas (down)
- ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 173 nautical miles/51.6 degrees
 TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1998 (8:52 PM EDT) Launch Day  STS-91 -- 9TH AND FINAL MIR DOCKING, SPACEHAB-SM, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)
NOTE: Space Shuttle Discovery launched today from KSC's Launch Pad 39A at 6:06 p.m. EDT. Though the launch team did slightly delay operations to load the external tank with cryogenic propellant this morning to evaluate a few minor technical issues, no major concerns were worked during the remainder of the countdown. As planned, launch managers determined the exact orbital location of the Russian space station Mir during the countdown's T-9 minute built-in hold. Managers then decided to launch Discovery at 6:06 p.m. EDT to achieve optimum Shuttle system performance and to accommodate Shuttle/Mir rendezvous activities slated for Thursday. Mir continues to maintain a stable attitude control environment and is ready to support docking operations on Flight Day 3. STS-91 is the final Shuttle flight scheduled to join with the Mir and will be orbiter Discovery's first Mir docking. The primary objective of the mission is to pickup U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomas and return him to Earth concluding four months of on orbit research. More than 3,000 pounds of supplies and water will be transferred to Mir during the four-day Shuttle/Mir union. The solid rocket booster recovery ships were deployed Monday at about 3 p.m. and are expected to arrive in Port Canaveral Thursday afternoon with boosters in-tow. For automatic e-mail subscriptions to this daily Shuttle status report or KSC-originated press releases, send an Internet electronic mail message to domo@news.ksc.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) type the words "subscribe shuttle-status", or "subscribe ksc-press-release" (do not use quotation marks). The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription. To remove your name from the list at any time, send an e-mail address to domo@news.ksc.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line), type (no quotes) "unsubscribe shuttle-status", or "unsubscribe ksc-press-release." Status reports and other NASA publications are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/kscpao.htm Information about the countdown and mission can be accessed electronically via the Internet at: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/ and at http://shuttle.nasa.gov/ |