The largest space crew in history took a congratulatory phone call from two world leaders and exchanged gifts Friday at the start of their first full day of cooperative work aboard the docked U.S. space shuttle and Russian space station.
Vice President Al Gore and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin called from Moscow, where the two were conducting talks on foreign policy and science and technology issues."We want to say congratulations on the historic success," Gore said as he viewed a television image of six astronauts and four cosmonauts crowded into a small room with American and Russian flags posted on a back wall.
It is the first time in two decades that Americans and Russians have launched from separate sides of the world and joined hands in space. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 marked the first time.
"You've set a great example and created a symbol for the progress that we can make in the future," Gore said of the orbital linkup that took place Thursday high above Central Asia as the American shuttle gently moored itself in a port on the Russian space station Mir.
Chernomyrdin hailed the speed with which the two nations have been able to set up their latest collaberation. "We made the first steps toward this two years ago and now we see the results of these efforts. We are proud of you and salute you," he said.
"We look forward to even greater things in the future from both our nations working together," Atlantis commander Robert "Hoot" Gibson replied.
The shuttle ferried a relief crew to Mir, along with food, water and other supplies. It will come home with a load of equipment, scientific samples and Mir's current crew - two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut.
Chernomyrdin also directed one remark to the Americans: "I want to wish all the American astronauts a happy national holiday on the Fourth of July."
Gore wished a happy birthday to three crew members. Mir commander Vladimir Dezhurov turned 33 on Friday. NASA's Norman Thagard, who set a U.S. spaceflight duration record aboard the Mir, will be 52 on Monday. Shuttle co-pilot Charlie Precourt celebrated his 40th on Thursday as the two craft docked.
The European Spacelab module in the rear of the shuttle's cargo bay was the setting for an informal ceremony in which the crews exchanged traditional gifts and small souvenirs. They linked models of Atlantis and Mir, joined two halves of a commemorative medallion and signed a document certifying the time of Thursday's historic docking.
The Atlantis crew had flowers, chocolate, fresh citrus, watches and pins. Bonnie Dunbar handed out the flowers, correctly noting that Russians consider it bad luck to give out anything but an odd number of flowers, and kissed her Russian male counterparts on the cheek.
The Mir crew presented bread and salt as well as watches, medals and Russian znachki pins.
As they exchanged gifts, the scene almost resembled an improvised party in a cramped Russian apartment, albeit without vodka.
With the ceremonies complete, the eight men and two women launched themselves into a busy schedule of cargo transfers and biomedical tests.
A NASA spokesman said the Atlantis-Mir complex constituted "225 tons of space hardware flying solidly linked together," but the mission was not without its technical problems. One of the shuttle's four main computers had failed overnight Thursday and ground controllers in Houston were making plans for the Atlantis crew to swap it with an on-board spare.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman Rob Navias said an alarm sounded to awaken Gibson when the computer failed and that the content of the computer's memory was salvaged by transmitting it to the ground. "The bottom line is, no impact to the mission whatsoever," he said.