WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

With the Rotating Service Structure rolled back, at left, the Space Shuttle Atlantis undergoes final prelaunch preparations at Launch Pad 39A for the STS-86 mission. One of the final steps will be to load the external tank with approximately 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for fueling the orbiters three main engines. STS-86 is slated to be the seventh docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. Liftoff is targeted for Sept. 25 at 10:34 p.m. EDT during a preferred launch window which lasts six minutes and 45 seconds. Seven crew members will lift off for the scheduled 10-day flight. One of those crew members, David A. Wolf, will transfer to the Mir for an approximate four-month stay. He will replace U.S. astronaut C. Michael Foale, who will return to Earth with the remainder of the STS- 86 crew. Foale has been on the Russian space station since mid-May.