WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

As astronaut Kevin P. Chilton looks on, cosmonaut Yury I. Onufrienko gives a thumbs up gesture, signifying successful docking operations between Russia's Mir Space Station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The Mir-21 and STS-76 commanders, respectively, earlier headed up the in-space effort which made possible the third link-up of Mir and Atlantis in Earth-orbit. With the delivery of astronaut Shannon W. Lucid to the Mir, the Mir-21 crew grew from two to three, as the mission specialist temporarily became a cosmonaut guest researcher. She is to spend approximately 140 days on Mir before returning to Earth.