Astronauts. American astronauts Shannon W. Lucid and John E. Blaha meet during a docking between the Russian Mir space station and the American space shuttle Atlantis. Lucid is wearing a blue cosmonaut outfit whilst Blaha is dressed in a red and white shuttle uniform. Lucid was about to return to Earth on the shuttle after a six month stay on Mir, the longest that an American astronaut had ever stayed in space. Blaha had arrived on the Atlantis as her replacement. As well as exchanging the astronauts, the shuttle also delivered supplies to the space station. Photographed during the STS-79 shuttle mission which took place during 16-26 September 1996.