SPACEPHOTOS

(06/12/1998) --- NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, STS-91 Mission Commander Charles J. Precourt, and STS-91 Mission Specialist Valery Victorovitch Ryumin of the Russian Space Agency inspect the orbiter Discovery after its landing at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility, completing the STS-91 mission. Main gear touchdown occurred on Runway 15 at 2:00:18 p.m. EDT on June 12, 1998, on orbit 155 of the mission. The wheels stopped at 2:01:22 p.m. EDT, for a total mission-elapsed time of 9 days, 19 hours, 55 minutes and 1 second. The 91st Shuttle mission was the 44th KSC landing in the history of the Space Shuttle program and the 15th consecutive landing at KSC. During the mission, the Shuttle docked with the Russian space station Mir for the ninth time, concluding Phase I of the joint U.S.-Russian International Space Station Program. STS-91 also featured first flights for both the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and the Space Shuttle super lightweight external tank. The STS-91 flight crew also included Pilot Dominic L. Gorie and Mission Specialists Wendy B. Lawrence, Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, and Janet Lynn Kavandi. Astronaut Andrew S. W. Thomas also returned to Earth from Mir as an STS-91 crew member after 141 days in space