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STS-84 Mission Specialists C. Michael Foale, at left, and Elena V. Kondakova, of the Russian Space Agency, find a moment to communicate one-on-one, perhaps about upcoming and past experiences living on the Russian Space Station Mir, during a busy training session at Launch Pad 39A. They and the other five crew members are participating in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), a dress rehearsal for launch. STS-84 aboard Atlantis will be the sixth docking of the Space Shuttle with the Mir. Kondakova spent 169 days in space as the cosmonaut flight engineer of the 17th main mission to Mir from Oct. 4, 1994, to March 9, 1995. After Atlantis docks with Mir on STS-84, Foale will transfer to the space station and become a member of the Mir 23 crew, replacing U.S. astronaut Jerry M. Linenger, who will return to Earth aboard Atlantis. Foale will live and work on Mir until mid-September when his replacement is expected to arrive on the STS-86 mission. STS-84 is targeted for a May 15 liftoff. KSC-97pc759
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STS-84 Mission Specialists C. Michael Foale, at left, and Elena V. Kondakova, of the Russian Space Agency, find a moment to communicate one-on-one, perhaps about upcoming and past experiences living on the Russian Space Station Mir, during a busy training session at Launch Pad 39A. They and the other five crew members are participating in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), a dress rehearsal for launch. STS-84 aboard Atlantis will be the sixth docking of the Space Shuttle with the Mir. Kondakova spent 169 days in space as the cosmonaut flight engineer of the 17th main mission to Mir from Oct. 4, 1994, to March 9, 1995. After Atlantis docks with Mir on STS-84, Foale will transfer to the space station and become a member of the Mir 23 crew, replacing U.S. astronaut Jerry M. Linenger, who will return to Earth aboard Atlantis. Foale will live and work on Mir until mid-September when his replacement is expected to arrive on the STS-86 mission. STS-84 is targeted for a May 15 liftoff.
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
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