November 6, 1995. Copyright, 1995, Graphic News. All rights reserved

SECOND DOCKING WITH MIR BY U.S. SPACE SHUTTLE
By Nicholas Booth, Science Editor

LONDON, November 6, Graphic News- The U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis will blast off today (Saturday, November 11) to make its second docking with the Russian space station Mir. The crew of  five will carry a special docking adaptor up to the station, to make the five further planned dockings over the next two years easier Ð and safer. Officials from the Russian space agency, RKA, were concerned that the Shuttle comes perilously close to MirÕs solar panels and could damage them, thereby reducing the power provided to the station overall. The new Russian-built Docking Module will clear the gap the Shuttle makes and be left behind after Atlantis returns to Earth.
Mir was launched in February 1986 to become the ÔcoreÕ of a larger station, to which a number of modules have subsequently been added. The most recent addition took place in May of this year to prepare for the first docking by Atlantis in June. It currently hosts a crew of four, including German astronaut Thomas Reiter, who was launched into space in September. Aboard the Shuttle this week will be Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, making his first space flight. This mix of European, Canadian, Russian and American astronauts will become routine during the crewing of the international space station, due for launch in 1997. 
Atlantis will spend a week in space and dock with Mir on the fourth day of its flight. The crew will deliver water, supplies and equipment, including replacement solar panels to upgrade the stationÕs power supply.  Though officials from both agencies express themselves delighted with the progress so far, behind the scenes there are problems Ð ranging from the ridiculous to the potentially serious. American astronauts training in Moscow have found living conditions primitive and had to wait months for a washing machine to arrive. Now two U.S. astronauts have had to return home because one was too tall and the other too short to fly aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule on two separate missions scheduled for next year.
Privately, American officials are worried about the state of Mir and its life support systems Ð particularly as the station should have been replaced in 1992 but was not, due to budgetary cutbacks. Though there is no question that this latest mission will be affected, MirÕs future ÔhealthÕ as the station reaches its tenth anniversary will become an overriding concern. Pressure, too, is building on the U.S. space programme, where a cut of one third to NASAÕs budget has been ordered by Congress. The agency has mooted the privatising of Shuttle operations, to reduce its annual operating costs of $3 billion. 

Note to editors: The Shuttle is scheduled to lift-off at 12:56PM GMT on Saturday November 11. It is the 18th flight of Atlantis and the 73rd in the Shuttle series.

Sources: NASA, Aviation Week, European Space Agency.