1 With ecstatic waves and giddy exclamations of 'beautiful,' the crews of shuttle Discovery and space station Mir met Monday in the first convergence of American and Russian spaceships in 20 years.
2 Discovery commander James Wetherbee took manual control of the shuttle as the two 100-ton spaceships passed only a half-mile (800 meters) apart while traveling 245 miles (392 kilometers) above Earth at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph).
3 The awestruck astronauts and cosmonauts gazed and waved at one another as Wetherbee stopped Discovery just 400 feet (120 meters) away from the massive T-shaped space station.
4 'This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in space,' Wetherbee told Mission Control. One of the Mir crew broke from Russian into English and echoed, 'Beautiful, beautiful.'
5 Mir beamed down stunning images of the shuttle against a brilliant blue and cloud-studded Earth. Discovery sent down views of the gleaming Russian space station against black space. Crew members pressed their faces up against spaceship windows to soak up the unprecedented view.
6 Russian space officials agreed at almost the last minute to let Discovery approach within 35 feet (10.5 meters). The rendezvous was held at 37 feet (11 meters), just two feet (60 cms) short of the goal.
7 Wetherbee steered the shuttle carefully over the last 300 yards (270 meters). The precision flying feat, one of the most difficult ever attempted by a shuttle pilot, took nearly an hour.
8 Once nearly eye-to-eye, Americans and Russians took time out to congratulate each other and look forward to upcoming shuttle-station dockings before Discovery backed away.
9 'We are bringing our spaceships closer together. We are bringing our nations closer together,' Wetherbee said. 'The next time we approach we will shake your hand and together we will lead our world into the next millennium.'
10 Mir commander Alexander Viktorenko expressed his pride and thanked the shuttle crew.
11 'We were one and we were human,' Viktorenko said.
12 Engineers from NASA and the Russian Space Agency huddled throughout the night and into the morning to discuss a steering thruster leak near the shuttle's tail that has been spewing fuel since shortly after Friday's launch.
13 The Russian agency insisted for a time that unless the jet stopped leaking, Discovery would have to stay at least 400 feet (120 meters) from Mir, out of fear that small chunks of frozen fuel might damage optical sensors on a Soyuz capsule attached to the orbiting outpost.
14 Mir's three cosmonauts need the capsule to return to Earth next month. There was also concern that Mir's solar panels might be contaminated.
15 NASA engineers didn't think the leakage would really damage the station, but said they didn't blame the Russians for being cautious.
16 When Discovery and Mir were less than 50 miles (80 kilometers) apart, Mission Control passed on the good news to Wetherbee that he could proceed.
17 'To everybody who worked the issue, thank you very much,' said Wetherbee, who was eager to test the shuttle's handling near the massive station.
18 The close-approach maneuver was planned as practice for the first shuttle-station docking this June.
19 The Russians agreed to it on three conditions. Discovery's leaking jet and two others connected to it would be shut down during the final stage of the rendezvous, thereby eliminating the leak. Secondly, the shuttle would back away from Mir immediately if any one of six critical steering jets failed. The shuttle also was not to come closer than 35 feet (10.5 meters), as previously agreed.
20 When the decision finally was reached, cosmonaut Vladimir Titov, the second Russian to fly aboard a shuttle, could already see Mir and was talking with its crew: Viktorenko, Yelena Kondakova and Valery Polyakov.
21 The two spacecraft were 104 miles (166 kilometers) apart when ship-to-ship communications began. NASA hadn't expected the contact until the distance closed to 10 miles (16 kilometers).
22 Gregarious conversation between Titov and his fellow cosmonauts filled Mission Control. The Mir crew members reported that Discovery looked to them like 'a large star on the horizon.'
23 The only previous rendezvous between U.S. and Russian spaceships was the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz docking.
24 The current eight-day flight is a prelude to seven Atlantis-Mir dockings planned through 1997, the first this June. NASA insisted the first docking would proceed with or without the 35-foot (10.5-meter) approach by Discovery.

Mir beamed down stunning images of the shuttle against a brilliant blue and cloud - studded Earth . Discovery sent down views of the gleaming Russian space station against black space . Crew members pressed their faces up against spaceship windows to soak up the unprecedented view .
Mir
How did Mir send down images?