ISSCOM 7 June 2009 (063) Status: It lasted a long time before I was fully operational again. During the last 9 months my health has been 2 times severely threatened, but as you all know: ‘old soldiers never die’ and I will try to postpone that what follows: ‘they just fade away’ as long as possible. I tried to follow the spaceflight communications as much as possible, but my medical worries often made reporting problemetic and this caused enormous delays. Meanwhile my PC struggled with memory problems. So it is now time to pick up the old routine. There we go: Soyuz-TMA15: This ship was launched from Baykonur on 27-5-09 at 1034UTC for a flight to the ISS with a crew of 3. In command was Roman Romanenko, the on-board engineers were the Belgian Frank de Winne and the Canadian Thirsk. They used the call-signs Parus-1, 2 and 3. Communications: They still used the VHF-2 (121.750 mc) for the direct communications with TsUP Moscow. I monitored all traffic in my station in Kijkduin, sea side resort of The Hague. Orbit 3: 1506-1512UTC. With a lot of self-confidence and a clear voice he reported about the 1st motor burn and the fuel consumption for this impulse. The engine worked excellently. According to page 43, they gave the command E-1 at 1809 Msc time. About the functioning of the KDO (orientation engine), the switching ON of a monitor and the orientation of the rotation. Frank de Winne reports details about the pitch angle . The pitch (Y-axis) is determined with the solar orientation, status 20, rising via 26 to 27.3. (Here Loss of Signal, S-TMA 15 out of sight.) Orbit 4: 1636-1643UTC. Romanenko about bad reception due to interference. He tells that they absorbed moisture on a visor (VSK). So no problem any more. The pressure of the oxygen is 609. TsUP Msk wants to know the pressure. Rom says that they open pag 31. The pressure is 818 mm. Interrupted reception, 3 seconds silence, 3 seconds audible. The TV in color worked satisfactorely, something was executed at 1520 Msc Time. ON 30 minutes OFF after 10 minutes. TsUP Msk reads out a series of data. Confirmed by Rom. The conversation ends with some times: 2259 26 Orbit 5: 1812-1814UTC. In the beginning poor reception. Rom asks if TsUP still has something to tell. “If not so we knock off.” TsUP (unclear). Rom about some files (unclear). They are ready to do something. Good bye, till tomorrow at 0731 Msc time. Remark: Reports about 2nd flight day in ISSCOM 064. Chris van den Berg, NL-9165