MIRNEWS.109 4 OCTOBER 1991 LAUNCH SOYUZ-TM13 FOR FLIGHT TO MIR: S-TM13 took off from Baykonur on 2 Oct. 1991 at 0559UTC. On board 3 cosmonauts: the commander Alaksandr Volkov, the Austrian Franz Viehbock and the Kazakh Taktar Albakirov. The c/s of this crew is 'Donbas'. DOUBLE LAUNCH: On the day of Franz Viehbock's launch his wife gave birth to a daughter (possibly named Karina Marie.) News about this came from Sergey Krikalyov on board MIR using the amateur frequ. 145.550 mc. 2-DAYS FLIGHT SOYUZ-TM13: Dense and clear radiotraffic on the frequ. 121.750 mc. The first orbit correction took place while S-TM13 was within our range (orbit 4, 1201UTC). Krikalyov relayed from MIR a lot of good news from S-TM13 with his downlink ham frequ. 145.550 mc. Franz Viehbock several times spoke to compatriots on TsUP via 121.750 mc. He told about his feelings during the launch: all for 100% exceeded his expectations. He was not as nervous as he expected to be en he experienced the acceleration during launch as a strong vibration. He said that this proved the effectiveness of the centrifuge exercises. Taktar Albakirov kept silence during passes over here: possibly he used the 121.750 mc only while flying over his country Kazakhstan, so out of range here. During the last passes of MIR on 3 Okt. 1991 Krikalyov asked about the problemse S-TM13 had with antenna. Artsebarskiy mentioned 'rather unfavourable circumstances'. Possibly they dealt with the problem for the docking on 4 Oct. 1991 was successful. DOCKING OF SOYUZ-TM13 TO MIR's FORWARD PORT: The docking took place on 4 Oct. 1991 at 0739UTC, just 1 minute after LOS for our position. Volkov attended the approach as if he was executing a manual approach. Possibly he did this to be able to take over immediately if necessary. At 0733UTC the distance was 141 Meters, at 0734UTC 99 M. and at 0736UTC 47 M. Volkov had some trouble to distinguish the 'aiming disc', which insuffiently contrasted to the dark background. OPENING HATCH AND ENTERING OF DONBASY: During the pass in orbit 32219 (09034-0915UT) the hatch swung open (091045UTC). While waiting for the opening the crew (and your scribe) with joy heard the declaration of Yeltsin in which he on behave of the people of the Russian Federation (Rossiya) congratulated the crews. This declaration sounded very positive and may be the manned space program is not as jeopardized as we have been afraid of earlier. During the opening of the hatch and the joyful exclamations of the crews TsUP relayed music on the uplink: The Blue Danube. Hereafter there was a long television session. SOME ACTIVITIES OF RADIO-AMATEURISM: 1. During the last days Krikalyov (U5MIR) several times tried to make QSO-s with the A.S.E.-conference in Berlin. (Association of Space Explorers) He sent greetings and best wishes on behalf of the MIR crew. 2. During the stay on board of Franz Viehbock, so until 10 Oct. 1991, amateur transmissions in all modes can be expected on 145.975 mc. 3. I am very grateful for the many positive reactions on my reports. So also thanks to G7IBJ. I will try to answer your questions in a separate message or letter. Please let me know your address. Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.