Shuttle Lands, Ending Mir Mission
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The shuttle astronauts returned to Earth on Monday from their visit to Russia’s Mir space station.
Mission Control greeted commander Kenneth Cameron in Russian after he guided Atlantis through an overcast sky and landed at Kennedy Space Center, and he complimented the five-member crew on a “great job” on the eight-day docking mission.
“A big thank you,” Cameron replied in Russian. He added in English: “Good to be home.”
The landing, at 9:01 a.m. PST, was broadcast live at Russian Mission Control outside Moscow.
It was NASA’s fourth mission in the joint U.S.-Russian program, two of which have involved dockings, and the last shuttle flight of the year. Eight shuttle flights are planned for 1996, one more than this year, including three Atlantis-Mir dockings.
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