Mir, Endeavour Narrow Gap in Preparation for Rendezvous

The gap between Mir and Endeavour narrowed orbit by orbit Friday as the shuttle chased the space station some 240 miles above Earth for one last astronaut swap.

The shuttle is scheduled to rendezvous with Mir this afternoon to deliver the last American to stay aboard the space station.

Astronaut Andrew Thomas couldn’t wait to get to Mir, and Mir’s David Wolf couldn’t wait to see him. Wolf has been living on the Russian space station since late September; Thomas will stay until early June.

The shuttle was loaded with supplies for Mir, including an air conditioner, a spare computer, food and water. The seven-member shuttle crew also had gifts for Wolf and his two Russian crew mates, including pocketknives, chocolates and fresh oranges and lemons.

Thomas packed his own goodies: family photos, books, music cassettes, computer games, and songbooks and guitar strings so he can play the guitar that’s already on Mir.

The 46-year-old Australian-born engineer will be the seventh American to live on Mir as practice for the international space station, which is to be assembled in orbit beginning in June. He will spend most of his mission with two Russian cosmonauts who will be launched from Kazakstan next Thursday.

He said he had some difficulty convincing his 70-something parents that he would be fine aboard the 12-year-old Mir.

Thursday night’s launch was stressful enough for them.

Adrian Thomas listened to the countdown on the radio at home in Adelaide, Australia. He turned down requests to watch the launch live in a TV studio--he didn’t want millions watching him if something went wrong. It wasn’t until Endeavour was safe in orbit that the elder Thomas looked at a videotape of the liftoff.

“I’m very relieved at the moment,” he said, “very proud and very relieved.”