The ten astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the Atlantis-Mir space complex continued their transfer activities today, moving more logistical supplies and water to the Russian outpost as U.S. astronaut Dave Wolf settled in for his four-month mission on the space station.

Wolf spent part of the day conducting experiments with a biomedical device on the Mir designed to cultivate cell tissue in the absence of gravity. Having set up his living quarters in the Mir’s Kvant-2 module, Wolf also had a chance to spend time with astronaut Mike Foale, his U.S. predecessor on the Mir, as Foale helped familiarize Wolf with his new orbital home.

Foale worked with Mir Flight Engineer Pavel Vinogradov to complete the cultivation of plants in the Mir’s Greenhouse experiment which has studied plant growth in the absence of gravity during Foale’s tenure on the Russian station.

Mission Specialists Vladimir Titov and Scott Parazynski joined Vinogradov and Mir 24 Commander Anatoly Solovyev in the continuing transfer of water and logistical supplies to the Mir for use over the next several months. As the two crews began their workday, approximately half of all of the items earmarked for transfer between both vehicles had already been moved to their respective locations.

U.S. and Russian flight controllers spent time today discussing the techniques and timelines which will be used for the installation of the new central computer for the Mir which was transferred from Atlantis Commander Jim Wetherbee to Solovyev Saturday at the time of hatch opening. Pending final approval Tuesday morning, the computer is expected to be installed in the Mir Wednesday prior to the start of a five-hour spacewalk in Atlantis’ cargo bay by Titov and Parazynski. It could take most of the day for software to be reloaded in the new computer, but no Mir systems performance should be affected since Atlantis will maintain the correct orientation to the sun for the Russian station for electrical production through its solar arrays.

Once the Mir’s new computer is back on line, the station’s gyrodynes can once again be spun up to provide automatic attitude control. Atlantis is scheduled to undock from the Mir Friday morning at the conclusion of six days of joint operations.

The Atlantis-Mir space complex is orbiting the Earth at an altitude of about 215 nautical miles with both spacecraft’s systems operating in excellent shape.

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