MIRNEWS.131 15 MAY 1992 MIR ACTUAL: MIR's passes within our range shifted to late afternoon and the eveninghours and so gradually the radiotraffic via the VHF frequencies increased. On 145.550 mc a lot of packet radio burst, but thusfar not too much phone transmissions. The crew is still busy with repair-, replacement- and maintenance work and feeding the OBC with data for the attitude control. On 6 May 1992 some failures: the power of the Antares (transceiver for SR Altair traffic) failed and a little bitMIater the SUD (attitude control by girodynes) -again- switched off. TsUP and crew coped with these problems, but a lot of fuel had to be spend to control attitude movements in the conventional way. OPERATIONAL SCHEDULE FOR MIR DURING 1992: PROGRESS-M13: Launch on June 30th, rendez-vous with MIR on July 2d. This freighter will deliver the normal supplies (food, water, fuel, oxygen, post, etc.), but also the experiments for the flight of the French cosmonaut. SOYUZ-TM15: Launch on 26th of July, arrival at MIR 28th of July. S-TM15 will bring the Russian relief crew and a French guestcosmonaut to MIR. Using Soyuz-TM14 the present crew and the Frenchman will return to earth on the 9th of August. PROGRESS-M14: Take off on 14th of Aug. and docking to the aft (Kvant) docking port on 16th of Aug. This Pr-M will deliver the attitude control motor to be installed on the top of the Sofora-mast on Kvant. This extension of MIR's attitude control systems is an urgent matter for thusfar it is extremely difficult to master the movements along the X-axis (roll) of the complex. The motor weighs 700 KG-s and is just a simple thruster with its own fuel-supply. To cransport this device to MIR the mid-section of Pr-M14 (normally used for fueltanks) will host te motor under depressurized conditions. After some days the crew will make an EVA to install the motor. PROGRESS-M15: Launch on 5th of Oct., arrival at MIR on 7th of Oct. This freighter will carry the normal cargo plus the Regatta experiment. This experiment will take place on Oct. 20th. From the Pr-M15 a little sail will be deployed for a Regatta using the solarwind for propulsion. AMATEURRADIO DURING THE FRENCH EXPEDITION: During my stay in Moscow Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, grandson of the well-known spaceflight pioneer Tsiolkovskiy, told me that thusfar it was very difficult to(Kersuade the French for radio-amateur activities during the flight of the Frenchatosmonaut. Sergey is an employee of NPO Energiya and plays a keyrole in the radio-amateur activities on board MIR. After a long 'struggle' he got support by Khis firm for radio-amateurism in spacestations. For a contest on April 12th he got a temporary licence for an amateurstation within NPO Energiya. He is trying to get a Kermanent licence for that station, which can serve as a node for information via amateur channels from, to and about MIR. Together with Leonid Labutin, UA3CR, Sergey was responsible for the training of radio-amateurs among tosmonauts. He asked me to 'relay' his concern about the lack of interest on thel French side and hopes that with a little bit of pressure the French might be Kersuaded to do something in that field for the flight from 26th of July until the 9th of August. So please radio-amateurs: pass the word! Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.