(28 Sep 1997) Russian/Nat
There was applause and praise at the Russian mission control centre on Saturday as the space shuttle "Atlantis" docked successfully with the troubled space station "Mir."
Only minutes after the successful docking, the team led by Yuriy Coptev, the Russian Space Agency director, briefed the press on the process.
The shuttle and the station are scheduled to stay linked-up for six days, the amount of time it will take to swap gear between the two space vessels.
Tense moments at "Mir" mission control in Korolyov, just outside Moscow, as the U-S shuttle "Atlantis" moved in to dock with the much-troubled Russian space station.
The vessels, crews and computers all worked, said "Mir's" flight director.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"It was a successful docking. For the first time we tried a different procedure of docking, this way we are going to dock the spaceships to the future international space station. Today we have no complaints about either performance of the crews of both Mir and Shuttle or the onboard computers."
SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Solovyov, Mir flight director
This was good for continued Russian-U-S space collaboration, said another top Russian space official.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"The events on board Mir in the recent months were the good test for our cooperation with Americans. And we never doubted the sensibility of our partners."
SUPER CAPTION: Yuriy Koptev, Russian space agency director
It was a perfect docking, added NASA's flight director.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Everything is going wonderful. We had a beautiful rendezvous and docking, couldn't have been better. Both vehicles are performing perfectly, we have no anomalies on either vehicle. It's a good start to a good mission."
SUPER CAPTION: Bill Reeves, NASA flight director
Yuriy Koptev explained that the team was preventatively trained for manual docking.
This was because the computer that keeps Mir in the right position has failed three times in the past three weeks.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"The Shuttle crew was fully prepared for the manual docking. Atlantis commander was specially trained to handle it for the last couple of days. But no need arose for the manual docking, the crafts docked automatically".
SUPER CAPTION: Yuriy Koptev, Russian Space Agency director
The event marks the start of a six-day joint shuttle-Mir mission which will involve cargo transfers and a space walk.
David Wolf - who arrived on the Atlantis - is to become the sixth American to become a Mir crew member.
He will replace Michael Foale, who'll return to Earth aboard the American shuttle.
Yuriy Semenov - chief designer of Mir space station - is also working on the future international space station project Alpha.
He says today's success will help in the future.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"All new experiences we get during these flights are going to be used during the exploitation of the future international space station. All of our mistakes and all of our achievements are invaluable experiences for future consideration and use. Today's successful docking is one more step along this path".
SUPER CAPTION: Yuriy Semenov, chief designer of Mir space station
The 11-year-old Mir space station has suffered an ever-growing list of mishaps.
These include computer malfunctions, air supply problems, a fire and a collision.
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