Why does the shuttle perform a flyaround maneuver after undocking from Mir?
The fly-around maneuver that has been performed on all of the Shuttle/Mir docking missions so far is not necessary from a flying standpoint – in fact, it was cut short on STS-79 when the fuel allocated for the activity was used up. The fly-around is performed for purposes of doing detailed photographic surveys of the Mir. These photos are being used by the Russian Mir team to understand the configuration and effects of aging on their station, and by the designers of the International Space Station to understand how materials and structures are affected by long-term exposure and deployment in space. The Fly-around activities have been performed on each mission because the Mir configuration has grown over the years, but now that it has reached its final form and been documented that way, future shuttle missions may likely omit the maneuver and instead separate directly from the Mir.
