SPACEPHOTOS

(09/25/1997) --- The five STS-86 mission specialists wave to the crowd of press representatives, KSC employees and other well-wishers as they depart from the Operations and Checkout Building. The three U.S. mission specialists (and their nicknames for this flight) are, from left, 'too tall' Scott E. Parazynski, 'just right' David A. Wolf and 'too short' Wendy B. Lawrence. The two mission specialists representing foreign space agencies are Vladimir Georgievich Titov of the Russian Space Agency, in foreground at right, and Jean-Loup J.M. Chretien of the French Space Agency, CNES, in background at right. Commander James D. Wetherbee and Pilot Michael J. Bloomfield are out of the frame. STS-86 is slated to be the seventh docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. Wolf is scheduled to transfer to the Mir 24 crew for an approximate four-month stay aboard the Russian space station. Parazynski and Lawrence were withdrawn from training for an extended stay aboard the Mir Parazynski because he was too tall to fit safely in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and Lawrence because she was too short to fit into a Russian spacewalk suit. The crew is en route to Launch Pad 39A, where the Space Shuttle Atlantis awaits liftoff on the planned 10-day mission