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...maneuvers aimed at linking the two great ships. One careless burst of a thruster jet, and Mir's feathery solar panels could be destroyed; too forceful a bump from Atlantis, and either or both craft could be severely damaged. And if Gibson and Precourt couldn't align their 100-ton spacecraft to within 3 in. and 2 [degrees] of its assigned position before the final docking, the whole mission would have to be aborted...
Commander Robert "Hoot" Gibson had the demanding task of steering the 100-ton Atlantis to within three inches of the 123-ton Mir, at a closing rate no faster than one foot in 10 seconds, while the two ships sped in tandem around the Earth...
...tomorrow, pilot Hoot Gibson will have to contend with a much more difficult linking than in the Apollo-Soyuz maneuver. "The Apollo and Soyuz capsules approached each other straight on," notes Hannifin. "This time, Mir will be stationary while the shuttle comes from underneath. The inertia of two 100-ton objects traveling at 17,500 miles per hour leaves no room for error. This will definitely be the most exciting part of the mission. But Hoot Gibson is an excellent pilot, and should handle it well...
...under cover of darkness, but by the time Smith's order came through, streaks of morning light were already appearing above the Dalmatian coast. At sunrise Berndt and his Marines, their faces covered with camouflage paint, had boarded a pair of enormous CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters-16-ton, seven-blade monsters. "We were so focused on the mission, I don't think anybody had any time to be nervous," recalls Berndt. "We were all excited that our young captain was alive and well...
DIED. J. PRESPER ECKERT, 76, co-inventor of the first fully electronic digital computer; in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. In 1943 Eckert and the late John W. Maulchy created the eniac (electronic numerical integrator and computer), a 30-ton leviathan that was 1,000 times as speedy as the standard calculators of its day, making it invaluable for plotting the trajectory of artillery shells-and for designing the first atom bomb...