Atlantis launched on the sixth Shuttle-Mir docking mission on May 15, 1997 at 4:07 a.m. Mike Foale was flown to the Russian space station to replace Jerry Linenger, who returned to Earth aboard the shuttle. Atlantis' crew was commander Charlie Precourt, pilot Eileen Collins and mission specialists Carlos Noriega, Ed Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy and Elena Kondakova.