Packing Day for Crew Aboard Mir

Astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the orbiting Discovery-Mir complex crammed as much as they could into the departing shuttle, the last moving van to visit the Russian space station before it comes down next year. Discovery is scheduled to undock today at Johnson Space Center in Houston after four days of joint flight, bringing home the last American to live on Mir, Andrew Thomas, as well as several thousand pounds of Russian gear and a pile of sentimental mementos. The shuttle is due back on Earth on Friday. Shuttle commander Charles Precourt said he wishes he could bring back one of Mir’s modules “for all of the world to share and see in a museum somewhere.”