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TLIGuy
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STS-79 was flown by the Space Shuttle Atlantis and was the 79th mission of the Shuttle program and the 4th of eleven Shuttle-Mir rendezvous missions flown between 1995 and 1998. The flight was commanded by William Readdy (CAPT USN RET) leading his crew of five, and docked with the fully completed Russian space station Mir to deliver equipment, supplies, and U.S. astronaut John Blaha. Blaha relieved U.S. astronaut Shannon Lucid, whose 188 day stay onboard Mir set the record for the longest stay in space by an American, as well as by a woman. STS-79 also marked the second flight of the SPACEHAB module in support of Shuttle-Mir activities and first flight of the SPACEHAB Double Module configuration.
STS-79 also saw the second flight of the newly developed Omega X-33 Flightmaster Prototype worn by Commander Readdy. The watch worn by Readdy was previously flown on STS-75 and worn by European Space Agency astronaut Claude Nicollier. The watch was supplied by Omega ‘as is’ in its original configuration, as seen above, to be tested by both Nicollier and Readdy. The prototype’s original design included a large red feathered minute hand, comma-separated times, round screw down pushers, and “Flightmaster” printed on the dial. After Readdy’s flight, the watch was returned to Omega where the astronauts’ observations and feedback resulted in a reprograming of the functions before freezing the configuration for future production to be used by astronauts and cosmonauts. Included in the final design and configuration update was the addition of larger flat pushers incorporated into the case design to accommodate the use of gloved hands.
The Speedmaster Professional X-33 was officially unveiled to the public on March 28, 1998, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in concert with a live satellite uplink to the Russian Mir space station.
Now onto Mir….
STS-79 gave the public one of the most iconic images of the Shuttle program. The Space Shuttle Atlantis begins the slow journey to Launch Pad 39A from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This dramatic view looking directly down onto the Shuttle atop the mobile launcher platform and crawler-transporter was taken from the VAB roof approximately 160 meters above the ground.
This schematic was provided to NASA by RSC Energia the company responsible for design and development of the Mir space station. It depicts the orientation of the Mir space station while docked to the Shuttle. (Courtesy William Readdy)
Here is a short video clip showing the X-33 Speedmaster Prototype being strapped onto the arm of Commander Readdy on launch day September 16, 1996.
An interesting observation about the watch being strapped on. It appears that in order for the watch to fit over the Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES) arm, a second plastic strap was added to create the additional length. You can see the second strap buckle extending the length on the long side of the strap. This second strap appears to have been removed during the flight so the watch could be worn normally on the wrist.
(Credit - NASA)
Here is one of the most interesting images of the X-33 Prototype take during STS-79. When I first saw this image I thought that Commander Readdy was setting the watch to a time on the black CRT monitor. Commander Readdy explained to me that the CRTs were mostly turned off to save power except during ascent, rendezvous, docking, undocking and entry. They used the STS Event Timer just below the CRT throughout the mission, so he was likely using the Event Timer (inset) to set or hack the watch.
Captain Readdy was kind enough to provide me a number of mission checklist pages that correspond to the docking events. While looking at a number of checklist pages from the mission I noticed that one included was the page seen being reviewed by Commander Readdy below. (Courtesy William Readdy)
As Atlantis approaches Mir for docking this image shows the docking target on Mir used by Atlantis for alignment.
Curious as to what the markings are on the docking target I was able to locate the image below from NASA. The docking target shows the roll, pitch, and yaw indicators used to refine the approach as the Shuttle approached Mir. The Stand-off Cross would be located directly in the center of the docking target and is mounted about 30cm centered above the back plate. When the Shuttle has the Stand-off Cross squarely in line with the docking target the Shuttle maneuvers and closes in to make contact with the docking ring.
Back-up Stand-off Cross taped onboard Atlantis’ mid-deck locker.
Below is a page form the docking procedure checklist roughly corresponding to the image below it. The checklist page is referencing the time when the Shuttle and Mir are within <30 feet of each other. (Courtesy William Readdy)
Mir is seen approaching from the top at roughly <30 feet and the camera feed of the docking target is seen on the right.
Here is a fantastic image of the docking checklist used during stationkeeping at a distance of 170 feet through Contact highlighted in yellow at the bottom. It is interesting to see that the checklist contains both English and Russian. (Courtesy William Readdy)
"Atlantis and Mir are shaking hands." Capture between the Shuttle and Mir is seen below. The Shuttle and Mir make first contact at 03:13:18 GMT.
Captain Readdy provided me a copy of the complete STS-79 mission report. Below are the significant times from the report regarding the docking events. Notice the addition of the Julian date before the GMT times. The 263rd day of the year 1996 is September 19th. (Courtesy William Readdy)
Seven minutes after Contact docking is complete when the black docking rings are pulled together securing the Shuttle and Mir together. The successful docking with Mir occurs on September 19, 1996, at 03:21:18 GMT.
Here is the new piece signed by Captain Readdy for my Speedmaster Signature Collection marking the historic Shuttle-Mir docking event.
After the hatches are opened Commander Readdy embraces Mir Commander Valeri Korzun with the X-33 Flightmaster clearly visible.
Below is an image of Atlantis forward crew cabin photographed from Mir.
Prior to the departure of Atlantis the crews pose for this picture. Foreground (L to R) Mir 22 Flight Engineer Aleksandr Kaleri, STS-79 Mission Specialists Jay Apt and John Blaha, STS-79 Mission Commander William Readdy and Mission Specialist Shannon Lucid. Background (L to R) STS-79 Mission Specialists Tom Akers and Carl Walz, Mir 22 Commander Valeri Korzun and STS-79 Pilot Terry Wilcutt.
Here is other iconic image associated with STS-79 that was the inspiration for my final case back photograph. Just prior to undocking after the Mir hatch was closed Commander Readdy placed an STS-79 decal on the Stand-off Cross and this photograph was taken. The image was later sent to the crew of STS-81 as a little ribbing that STS-79 was there first.
Below is a page from STS-79’s mission plan for Day 6 in orbit. As you can see, the plan shows the time and activities of the Shuttle and Mir crews. By Day 6 Lucid and Blaha have exchanged places. Shannon Lucid MS4-DWN returning with STS-79 and John Blaha MS4-UP remaining onboard Mir. (Courtesy William Readdy)
After undocking this picture of Mir was taken from Atlantis. The Crew Optical Alignment Sight (COAS) was used during rendezvous for estimating range and alignment. The yellow ring is called the Optical Sight Reticule.
So long Mir. A long distance image of Mir taken after undocking.
I would like to thank Captain Readdy for his participation in my project. His openness to sharing personal images, answering my numerous questions, sharing his impressive knowledge about the STS-79 mission and the X-33 he wore was invaluable to better understanding the importance of the mission as well as the early development history of the X-33. I'm thrilled to finally add his signed piece to my collection and I hope that you all enjoy the short story behind it.
This collection has been assembled for my own personal use and its sole purpose is to honor the men and women that participated in the spaceflight program and their achievements. The collection is not endorsed by Omega, The Swatch Group, NASA, or the astronauts participating and there are no commercial or financial interests associated with the collection. In no way do I benefit either financially or otherwise from this collection.
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