page_title: STS-71
hierarchical_section_title: STS-71
caption_attribution_description: English: The crew assigned to the STS-71 mission included (front left to right) Vladimir N. Dezhurov, Mir 18 crew download; Robert L. Gibson, commander; and Anatoly Y. Solovyev, Mir 19 crew upload. On the back row, left to right, are Norman E. Thagard, Mir 18 crew download; Gennadiy Strekalov, Mir 18 crew download; Gregory J. Harbaugh, mission specialist; Ellen S. Baker, mission specialist; Charles J. Precourt, pilot; Bonnie J. Dunbar, mission specialist; and Nikolai Budarin, Mir 19 crew upload. Launched aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on June 27, 1995 at 3:32:19.044 pm (EDT), the STS-71 mission marked many firsts in human space flight history. It was the first U.S. Space Shuttle-Russian Space Station Mir docking and joint on-orbit operations, and the first on-orbit change out of a shuttle crew. In addition, it was the largest spacecraft ever in orbit and was the 100th U.S. human space launch conducted from the Cape.
context_page_description: STS-71 was the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program and the first Space Shuttle docking to Russian space station Mir. It started on 27 June 1995 with the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Shuttle delivered a relief crew of two cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin to the station and recovered Increment astronaut Norman Thagard. Atlantis returned to Earth on 7 July with a crew of eight. It was the first of seven straight missions to Mir flown by Atlantis.
  For the five days the Shuttle was docked to Mir they were the largest spacecraft in orbit at the time. STS-71 marked the first docking of a Space Shuttle to a space station, the first time a Shuttle crew switched members with the crew of a station, and the 100th crewed space launch by the United States. The mission carried Spacelab and included a logistical resupply of Mir. Together the Shuttle and station crews conducted various on-orbit joint US/Russian life science investigations with Spacelab along with the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II experiment.
context_section_description: STS-71 was the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program and the first Space Shuttle docking to Russian space station Mir. It started on 27 June 1995 with the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Shuttle delivered a relief crew of two cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin to the station and recovered Increment astronaut Norman Thagard. Atlantis returned to Earth on 7 July with a crew of eight. It was the first of seven straight missions to Mir flown by Atlantis.
  For the five days the Shuttle was docked to Mir they were the largest spacecraft in orbit at the time. STS-71 marked the first docking of a Space Shuttle to a space station, the first time a Shuttle crew switched members with the crew of a station, and the 100th crewed space launch by the United States. The mission carried Spacelab and included a logistical resupply of Mir. Together the Shuttle and station crews conducted various on-orbit joint US/Russian life science investigations with Spacelab along with the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II (SAREX-II) experiment.
caption: Space Shuttle program
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