Flight Date Crew* Mission

STS-72,

Endeavour January 11–20 Brian Duffy, Brent W. Jett, Jr.,

Winston E. Scott, Leroy Chiao,

Daniel T. Barry, Koichi Wakata Deploy and retrieve OAST-Flyer; retrieve

Space Flyer Unit; practice space walks for

International Space Station

Soyuz

TM-23 February 21 Yury Onufriyenko, Yury Usachev Deliver crew to Mir; return crew to Earth

(September 2)

STS-75,

Columbia February 22–

March 9 Andrew M. Allen, Scott J. Horowitz,

Franklin R. Chang-Díaz, Umberto Guidoni,

Jeffrey A. Hoffman, Maurizio Cheli,

Claude Nicollier Refly Tethered Satellite System;

conduct microgravity materials

experiments

Soyuz TM-22

(return) February 29 Yury Gidzenko, Sergey Avdeyev,

Thomas Reiter Return Mir crew to Earth

STS-76,

Atlantis March 22–31 Kevin Chilton, Richard Searfoss,

Ronald M. Sega, Linda Godwin,

M. Richard Clifford, Shannon W. Lucid Deliver Lucid and supplies to Mir; space

walk for International Space Station

STS-77,

Endeavour May 19–29 John H. Casper, Curtis L. Brown, Jr.,

Andrew S.W. Thomas, Daniel W. Bursch,

Mario Runco, Jr., Marc Garneau Launch PAMS/STU stabilization-technology

satellite; deploy and retrieve Inflatable

Antenna Experiment; conduct materials

experiments in Spacelab

STS-78,

Columbia June 20–July 7 Terence T. Henricks, Kevin R. Kregel,

Susan J. Helms, Richard M. Linnehan,

Charles E. Brady, Jr., Jean-Jacques Favier,

Robert Brent Thirsk Conduct Life and Microgravity Spacelab

mission to study biological effects of

space travel

Soyuz

TM-24 August 17 Valery Korzun, Aleksandr Kalery,

Claudie Andre-Deshays Deliver crew to Mir; return crew to

Earth (1997)

STS-79,

Atlantis September 16–26 William F. Readdy, Thomas D. Akers,

Terrence W. Wilcutt, John E. Blaha (stays

on Mir), Jay Apt, Carl E. Walz,

Shannon W. Lucid (returns to Earth) Conduct experiments in Spacelab

Double Module; dock with Mir;

exchange Lucid with Blaha

STS-80,

Columbia November 19–

December 7

(longest shuttle

mission to date) Kenneth D. Cockrell, Kent V. Rominger,

Tamara E. Jernigan, Thomas D. Jones,

F. Story Musgrave Deploy and retrieve ORFEUS-SPAS II

astrophysics satellite and Wake Shield

Facility; conduct space walks to test new

tools and techniques