KSC-97pc197

U. S. astronaut John E. Blaha poses with his wife, Brenda (left), and daughter, Carolyn (right), in the crew quarters at KSC after answering questions about his four-month stay aboard the Russian Mir space station. Blaha returned to Earth earlier today aboard the Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis when it touched down at 9:22:44 a.m. EST Jan. 22 on Runway 33 of KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility at the conclusion of the STS-81 mission. Blaha and the other five returning STS-81 crew members are spending the night here in the Operations and Checkout Building before returning to Johnson Space Center in Houston tomorrow morning. Blaha will undergo a two-week series of medical tests to help determine the physiological effects of his long-duration mission