KSC-97PC1397

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers prepare to close the payload bay doors of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in preparation for the planned Sept. 25 liftoff of Mission STS-86. The primary payload is the SPACEHAB Double Module, at center, which will be used mainly as a large pressurized cargo container for the three-and-a-half tons of science/logistical equipment and supplies to be exchanged between Atlantis and the Russian Space Station Mir. STS-86 will be the seventh docking of the Space Shuttle with the Mir. The 10-day flight also is scheduled to include the transfer of the sixth American to live and work aboard the Russian orbiting outpost. Liftoff of Atlantis and its seven-member crew is targeted for 10:34 p.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A