The Atlantis mission STS-84 is scheduled for launch in May 1997. This mission will include the transfer of ESA's Jean-Francois Clervoy to the Russian space station Mir, another key step towards Europe's role as a partner in the International Space Station.
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The space shuttle Atlantis will dock with Mir in order to exchange crew members, deliver supplies and test new technologies. Clervoy, an ESA astronaut since 1992, will be making his second trip into space. European companies have developed two new navigational systems to guide the proposed ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle), an unmanned supply vessel for use with the International Space Station (ISS) - these systems will be tested as NASA's systems guide the Atlantis/ Mir docking. Many onboard experiments are also European - whilst ESA's biorack facility will be used to observe the effects of reduced gravity and radiation on plants and cells, the Morphological Transition and Model Substances experiment (MOMO) will