STS-81 Flight Day 7

Abstract

On this seventh first day of the STS-81 mission, the flight crew, Cmdr. Michael A. Baker, Pilot Brent W. Jett, Mission Specialists, John M. Grunsfeld, Marsha S. Ivins, Peter J.K. Wisoff, and John Blaha, and the cosmonauts of the Russian Space Station Mir continue to transfer hundreds of pounds of water, supplies, and logistical items to each other's spacecraft. More than 1,300 pounds of water have now been transferred from Atlantis to the Mir to resupply the Russian outpost, along with equipment that will be used by astronaut Jerry M. Linenger during his four-month research mission. A bioprocessing device and an experiment used to grow cartilage cells during astronaut John Blaha's four month stay on the Mir is also transferred to Atlantis for the trip back to Earth. Linenger spends most of the day collecting water samples from the Mir for analysis back on Earth and Blaha continues to exercise on a treadmill on the Mir to stay in shape for his return to Earth and a readaptation to gravity after four months of weightlessness.