Our Last Meeting with Our Friends on the Mir Space Station

The Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled for launch from the Kennedy Space Center on June 2, 1998, at 6:05 p.m. EDT (2205 UTC). The launch window will be just 5 - 10 minutes long in order for the shuttle to rendezvous with the Russian Mir Space Station.

The 23rd flight of Discovery will be launched into a 51.6 degree inclination by 173 nautical mile orbit. The primary Transoceanic Abort Site (TAL) will be Zaragosa, Spain. Alternate TAL sites will be Moron, Spain and Ben Guerir, Morocco.

The 10-day shuttle flight will bring astronaut Andy Thomas home after more than 130 days on Mir. The flight will mark the final Shuttle/Mir Docking mission. These missions were a precursor to the International Space Station, maintaining a continuous American presence in space and developing the procedures and hardware required for an international partnership in space.

STS-91 will also carry the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Investigation (AMS) into space to investigate anti-matter and dark-matter in space and study astrophysics.

Weather could play a significant role in both launch and landing. With an early evening launch and near noon landing, showers and thunderstorms and crosswinds may be factors.

Discovery is scheduled to land on June 12, 1998, at 11:36 am EDT (1736 UTC) at the Shuttle Landing Facility, Kennedy Space Center. The alternate landing site is Edwards AFB, CA.

I will be the SMG lead forecaster for STS-91. I will be working my 80th mission overall (15th as mission lead) during STS-91. The TAL forecaster and assistant lead will be Wayne Baggett. The Lead Techniques Development Unit (TDU) meteorologist will be Tim Oram.

All SMG landing weather forecasts will be issued on AFOS under PIL JSCOAVJSC and on NWS Family of Services with WMO header FXXX01 KHOU. Forecasts and information with links to NASA Shuttle information can be accessed on the Internet at: http://shuttle.nasa.gov/weather.

For more general information about the STS-91 mission and the space program visit the NASA Space Shuttle Homepage at: http://shuttle.nasa.gov.