(15 Jan 1997) English/Nat
The US space shuttle Atlantis docked Tuesday night with the Russian space station Mir, 240 miles (384 kilometers) above Earth.
The two massive spacecraft neatly linked as they soared above Moscow, both travelling at 17 and a -half thousand miles per hour (28-thousand kilometers per hour.)
Atlantis' mission is to bring home US astronaut John Blaha, who has been living on the Russian space station since September.
He'll be switching places with fellow countryman Jerry Linenger.
The gap between space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir narrowed on Tuesday.
The mission - an astronaut swap 240 miles (386 kilometres) above Earth.
Currently, astronaut John Blaha is on Russian Space Station MIR, he's been there since September.
Atlantis was guided in at a scant inch (2 and a -hal centimeters) per second.
UPSOUND:
"Contact and capture confirmed"
"Hey Houston, we have contact and capture"
"Atlantis and MIR join together for the fifth time forming a 265-tonne space complex for the next days."
NASA's John Blaha, was to switch places on Wednesday with astronaut Jerry Linenger shortly after the hatches opened between the two spacecraft.
Blaha, a 54-year-old Vietnam war veteran, is scheduled to return to Earth on January 22, following 128 days in space.
During his time aboard MIR, Blaha performed more than 60 scientific experiments, including growing wheat in space.
Atlantis and MIR, which have docked four times previously, will remain joined in orbit for five days, allowing the nine space travellers aboard to move nearly 6-thousand pounds (2-thousand, 700 kilograms) of supplies and experiments back and forth.
41-year-old Jerry Linenger, who will be the fourth American astronaut to live on the Russian Space Station, will spend more than four months aboard MIR.
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