Director Robert R. Gilruth met with members of his STG staff (Paul E. Purser, Charles J. Donlan, James A. Chamberlin, Raymond L. Zavasky, W. Kemble Johnson, Charles W. Mathews, Maxime A. Faget, and Charles H. Zimmeman) and George M. Low from NASA Headquarters to discuss the possibility of an advanced manned spacecraft.

Rebrov is working on a book on Salyut 1, and the Soyuz 10 and 11 missions. Despite three trips to Sweden and France, there has still been no vendor selection for the TsF-18 centrifuge. In any case there is still not enough money (12 million roubles needed, 3 million roubles available).

A Skylab Program Director's meeting was held to identify further actions required for the SL 2 mission and actions required for the SL-3 mission. The following agreements were reached: The parasol installed on the OWS would not be jettisoned until a replacement thermal shield was on board, if a twin-boom thermal shield had not been deployed during the SL-2 mission. The twin-boom sunshade and the JSC sail would be retained in the OWS at the end of the SL-2 mission.

Discovery docked at the PMA-2 end of the International Space Station PMA-2/Unity/PMA-1/Zarya stack. The crew transferred equipment from the Spacehab Logistics Double Module in the payload bay to the interior of the station. Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry made a space walk to transfer equipment from the payload bay to the exterior of the station. The ODS/EAL docking/airlock truss carried two TSA (Tool Stowage Assembly) packets with space walk tools. The Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC), built by Energia and DASA-Bremen, carried parts of the Strela crane and the US OTD crane as well as the SHOSS box which contains three bags of tools and equipment to be stored on ISS's exterior.

The STS-96 payload bay manifest:

• Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System/External Airlock
• Bay 3-4: Tunnel Adapter S/N 001
• Bay 5-7: Spacehab Tunnel
• Bay 5: Keel Yoke Device (KYD) and Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC)
• Bay 8-12: Spacehab Logistics Double Module
• Bay 13 Port: Adapter Beam (ABA) with IVHM
• Bay 13 Stbd: Adapter Beam (ABA) with SVF/Starshine
• Sill: RMS Arm S/N 303

On May 30 at 02:56 GMT Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry entered the payload bay of Discovery from the tunnel adapter hatch, and made a 7 hr 55 min space walk, transferring equipment to the exterior of the station.

On May 31 at 01:15 GMT the hatch to Unity was opened and the crew began several days of cargo transfers to the station. Battery units and communications equipment were replaced and sound insulation was added to Zarya. Discovery undocked from ISS at 22:39 GMT on June 3 into a 385 x 399 km x 51.6 degree orbit, leaving the station without a crew aboard. On June 5 the Starshine satellite was ejected from the payload bay. The payload bay doors were closed at around 02:15 GMT on June 6 and the deorbit burn was at 04:54 GMT. Discovery landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 06:02 GMT.

At 0:721 GMT on June 5 the Starshine satellite was ejected into a 379 x 396 km x 51.6 degree orbit from a canister at the rear of STS-96 Space Shuttle Discovery's payload bay. The small Starshine satellite, built by NRL, was to be observed by students as part of an educational exercise.

Having departed a rejuvenated International Space Station last night, Atlantis' crew will now spend a day checking the shuttle's equipment and stowing away gear in preparation for the trip home, aiming for a 1:20 a.m. CDT landing on Monday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Additional Details: here....

The Expedition 11 crew entered its seventh week in space today, wrapping up a week highlighted by research, maintenance and training for photography tasks to be done during the Space Shuttle's Return to Flight mission in July. Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips spent several days conducting examinations of each other using an ultrasound device that provides data on the ability of crewmembers to conduct detailed medical exams in space. The experiment could have future applications for telemedicine or rural health care. Additional Details: here....