STS-79 was the 17th flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis, and the 79th mission of the Space Shuttle program. The flight saw Atlantis dock with the Russian space station Mir to deliver equipment, supplies and to exchange personnel participating in long-duration stays aboard the station as part of the Shuttle–Mir program. A variety of scientific experiments were also conducted aboard Atlantis by her crew. It was the first shuttle mission to rendezvous with a fully assembled Mir, and the fourth rendezvous of a shuttle to the space station.
Crew
Crew seat assignments
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Seat
! Launch
! Landing
|rowspan=8| 150px<br />Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.<br />Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
|-
! 1
|colspan=2| Readdy
|-
! 2
|colspan=2| Wilcutt
|-
! 3
|Apt
|Walz
|-
! 4
|colspan=2| Akers
|-
! 5
|Walz
|Apt
|-
! 6
|Blaha
|Lucid
|-
! 7
|colspan=2 style="background-color:lightgray"| Unused
|}
Mission highlights
STS-79 was the first shuttle mission to a fully completed Mir space station, following the arrival of its Priroda module. Atlantis carried the Orbiter Docking System. This spaceflight was highlighted by the collection of American astronaut Shannon Lucid after 188 days in space, the first American crewmember exchange aboard the Russian Space Station Mir, and the fourth Shuttle-Mir docking. She embarked to Mir March 22 on the STS-76 mission. Succeeding her on Mir for an approximately four-month stay was John Blaha, who returned in January 1997 with the STS-81 crew. American astronaut Jerry Linenger replaced him.
STS-79 also marked the second flight of the SPACEHAB module in support of a Shuttle-Mir docking and the first flight of the SPACEHAB Double Module configuration.
During five days of mated operations, the two crews transferred more than of supplies to Mir, including logistics, food, and water generated by Atlantis's fuel cells. Three experiments were also transferred: the Biotechnology System (BTS) for study of cartilage development; the Material in Devices as Superconductors (MIDAS) experiment to measure electrical properties of high-temperature superconductor materials; and the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), containing several smaller experiments, including self-contained aquatic systems.
About of experiment samples and equipment were transferred from Mir to Atlantis and the total logistical transfer to and from station of more than was the most extensive to date.