MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-63 Status Report #9


Monday, February 6, 1995, 5 p.m. CST

The Space Shuttle Discovery and Russian Space Station Mir today successfully 
completed an on-orbit rendezvous that resulted in the two spacecraft coming 
within 37 feet of each other.

"As we are bringing our space ships closer together, we are bringing our 
nations closer together," said STS-63 Commander Jim Wetherbee after Discovery 
reached the point of closest approach.  "The next time we approach, we will 
shake your hand and together we will lead our world into the next millennium."

Discovery had been slowly closing the distance between it and Mir since a few 
hours after it reached orbit.  Today, the final phase of rendezvous brought 
the orbiter from behind the Russian station to a point about 400 feet in front 
it.  Discovery then moved down the velocity vector (an imaginary line extending 
in the direction of travel of a space vehicle) toward Mir.  After reaching the 
point of closest approach over the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of 213 nautical 
miles and maintaining that position for 10 minutes, Discovery moved away from 
Mir and initiated a fly-around of the station.

Wetherbee reported that Discovery performed well during the operations.  The 
orbiter's performance, he said, was identical to that of the flight simulators 
the crew trained in.  Mir Commander Alexander Viktrenko reported that the 
orbiter's thruster firing did not affect the Mir's solar arrays.  All insights 
collected today will be used to refine planning for the first time a shuttle 
docks with Mir later this year.

Following the completion of today's rendezvous activities, President Bill 
Clinton made a special phone call to the STS-63 crew members.  His remarks 
included congratulations to the crew for successfully performing the historic 
rendezvous. 

The STS-63 astronauts are now preparing for their eight-hour sleep period. 
When they awake at 12:52 a.m., they will begin their fifth day in space which 
includes the deployment of the Spartan-204 spacecraft for 48 hours of 
astronomical observations.