Space Shuttle Projects

This image of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis, with cargo bay doors open showing Spacelab Module for the Spacelab Life Science and the docking port, was photographed from the Russian Mir Space Station during STS-71 mission. The STS-71 mission performed the first docking with the Russian Mir Space Station to exchange crews. The Mir 19 crew, cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin, replaced the Mir 18 crew, cosmonauts Valdamir Dezhurov and Gernady Strekalov, and astronaut Norman Thagard. Astronaut Thagard was launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in March 1995 for a three-month stay on the Mir Space Station as part of the Mir 18 crew. The Orbiter Atlantis was modified to carry a docking system compatible with the Mir Space Station. The Orbiter also carried a Spacelab module for the Spacelab Life Science mission in the payload bay in which various life science experiments and data collection took place throughout the 10-day mission.