Astronaut Apt on the middeck with TIPS messages

STS079-365-004 (16-26 Sept. 1996) --- During off-duty time, Jerome (Jay) Apt, a licensed amateur radio operator, talks to ground contacts via the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX). The radio was also used for communications between the Space Shuttle Atlantis and Russia's Mir Space Station during docking and undocking activities. This photograph is one of fifteen 35mm frames (along with four 70mm frames) of still photography documenting the activities of NASA's STS-79 mission, which began with a September 16, 1996, liftoff from Launch Pad 39A the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and ended with a landing at KSC on September 26, 1996. Onboard for the launch were astronauts William F. Readdy, commander; Terrence W. Wilcutt, pilot; John E. Blaha, Apt, Thomas D. Akers and Carl E. Walz, all mission specialists. On flight day 4, the crew docked with Mir. Shannon W. Lucid, who had spent six months aboard Mir, switched cosmonaut guest researcher roles with Blaha. The latter joined fellow Mir-22 crew members Valeri G. Korzun, commander, and Aleksandr Y. Kaleri, flight engineer.