Shuttle Lands With 3 Who Hitched Ride : Spaceflight: American and two Russians who were aboard space station for 3 1/2 months arrive in Florida. Atlantis delivered fresh crew mates to Mir.

The space shuttle Atlantis glided to a landing Friday after the first East-West linkup in orbit in 20 years, bringing home an American and two Russians who spent an often dreary 3 1/2 months aboard the Mir space station.

The shuttle, with commander Robert L. (Hoot) Gibson at the controls, touched down at 7:54 a.m. PDT at the Kennedy Space Center, from where it was launched June 27.

“Welcome home, Atlantis . . . congratulations on a perfect end to your historic mission. A new era in human spaceflight has begun,” shuttle communicator Curt Brown radioed the crew from Mission Control in Houston.

“We couldn’t have said it better. We’re proud to have been a part of it,” Gibson radioed back from the cockpit.

During the 10-day shuttle mission, Atlantis docked with Mir 245 miles above Earth in a feat of precision flying executed at 17,500 m.p.h. Atlantis delivered a fresh Russian crew to Mir and gave astronaut Norman E. Thagard and his two Russian crew mates a ride back home.

President Clinton called the astronauts and cosmonauts before they left Atlantis to congratulate them on their docking mission with the Russian space station. He offered special praise for Thagard, saying “we’re all very proud.”

“The Russians took good care of me,” Thagard told the President. “We’re great friends so I think if what we did on a personal level is any indication, there won’t be any problem with this on an intergovernmental level as well.”

Clinton replied: “The next time we have any problem between American and Russian officials I’m going to send them into space. I think I now know how to solve all international problems.”

After the conversation, Thagard walked from the shuttle, amazing NASA flight surgeons who had expected him to be too wobbly.

His two Russian comrades from the space station, Vladimir Dezhurov and Gennady Strekalov, were carried from Atlantis on stretchers.

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Thagard and his Mir crew mates were expected to be dizzy, weak and disoriented because of their long stint floating in microgravity, but Gibson said at an afternoon news conference that all three were feeling fine.

“They’re doing very well,” Gibson said. “All three have been up and walking around.” He said doctors were slightly miffed at Thagard for being too active and running around too much.

Thagard was by far the hardiest of the three men who spent 115 days in weightlessness. After emerging from the shuttle, he greeted his wife of 30 years, Kirby, and their three sons with hugs and kisses--standing up, without help.

“He’s a little thin, but he looked great,” Kirby Thagard said.

After a 10-minute reunion, Thagard was whisked into a medical lab for blood tests and other exams. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, who welcomed the crew along with Russian Space Agency Chief Yuri Koptev, met him with ice cream, keeping a longtime promise.

Dezhurov and Strekalov were subjected to similar medical tests after a brief visit with their wives and children.

The three men face nearly a month of medical testing. NASA has never had a chance to examine anyone who has spent so much time in space; Thagard holds the U.S. space endurance record, though it pales beside the world record of 439 days, held by the Russians.

Thagard didn’t mind all the poking and prodding. As far as he’s concerned, the worst is over: He’s back with his family.

The 52-year-old physician reported in almost every interview from orbit that he missed his wife and children terribly. He also complained of extreme “cultural isolation” aboard Mir, despite his fluency in Russian.

Goldin admitted the space agency had learned a lesson from Thagard.

“We put all our focus of attention on the physical well-being of the astronauts and the success of the mission. We neglected the psychological well-being,” Goldin said.