ISSCOM 25 April 2002 (026)

Soyuz-TM34: This transport ship was launched from Baykonur on 25.04.02 at 06.26.25UTC. A good 8 minutes later the cosmonauts, Gidzenko (commander) and the 2 semi-trained astronauts, the South African millionaire Shuttleworth and the Italian Vittori reached space. Their call signs are Uran-1, 3 and 2, resp.
But as expected everything went flawlessly and after four and a half hours after the launch the radio traffic could be monitored in the Netherlands.
Marco Polo: The taxi crew, that will stay on board of the ISS for a short period is named 'Marco Polo crew'.
Communications: During the pass in orbit 3 the S-TM34 came within range of the Netherlands between 09.29.41 and approx. 09.31.50UTC.
Gidzenko, a cosmonaut with a great experience, reported that the crew was about to transfer to the BO (life compartment). The crew had taken off the space suits and checked the air tightness of the ship. The crew was still in the SA (landing apparatus) for the execution of the 1st orbit correction.
During the pass over the Netherlands in orbit 4 (1102-1105UTC) Gidzenko reported the correct execution of the 2 impulse manoeuvres. The rotation of the ship was just going on. About the correction impulses Gidzenko also said that the deviations were less than one hundredth.
The last pass over the Netherlands in which radio traffic could be heard today was number 5 (1235-1238UTC). Apart from telemetry in the 166 mc band, voice could be monitored via 121.750 mc.
Gidzenko asked TsUP-M to give a schedule about communication windows during the night. During those reported periods the S-TM34 will be out of range of the Netherlands.
TsUP-M told Gidzenko that the test and experiment with the RO (manual orientation) will be cancelled. Gidzenko said that he did not understand why and added that they can use that time among other activities to dry their space suits.
Estimated time of arrival of the S-TM34 at the ISS: 27.04.02 at 0757UTC plus or minus 3 minutes. (ESA gave 0752UTC).
If there might be a failure with the automatic approach Gidzenko will take over manually, for which we can trust him for 100%. During the first pass of the complex over the Netherlands that day during ISS-orbit number 19609 (0740-0747UTC) voice communications about the approach operation can be heard via 3 channels: Onufrienko via 143.625 mc and Gidzenko via 121.750 and/or 130.165 mc.
The hatches between ISS and the S-TM34 will be opened at about 0925UTC. So also during the 2nd pass for the Netherlands during ISS orbit number 19610 (0914-0924UTC) traffic is also still possible on the above mentioned channels. If the Marco Polo expedition will be executed according to plan, its crew will return to earth with the S-TM33 on 5.05.02 and land in Kazakhstan at about 0400UTC.

Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202