STS-76 view of Mir

Backdropped against the waters of Cook Strait near New Zealand's South Island, Russia's Mir space station is seen from the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle Atlantis. The two spacecraft were in the process of making their third docking, on 23 March 1996. With the subsequent delivery of NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid to Mir, the Mir-21 crew grew to three, as the mission specialist quickly became a cosmonaut guest researcher. [Image Date: 23-03-96] [97.06.011-003]