6th Shuttle flight to MIR
The STS-84 mission was the 6th Shuttle/Mir docking mission and part of the NASA/Mir program which consisted of nine Shuttle-Mir dockings and seven long duration flights of U.S. astronauts aboard the Russian space station.The shuttle previously Mir missions were STS-71, STS-74, STS-76, STS-79 and STS-81. The U.S. astronauts launched and landed on a Shuttle and served as Mir crew members while the Mir cosmonauts used their traditional Soyuz vehicle for launch and landing.This series of missions would expand U.S. research on Mir by providing resupply materials for experiments to be performed aboard the station as well as returning experiment samples and data to Earth.