MIRNEWS.146    16 SEPTEMBER 1992

EXTRA VEHICULAR ACTIVITIES (EVA-S) MIR-CREW:

General:

Main purpose of these recently executed 4 EVA-s was the installation of the VDU
(attitude control thruster) in the top of the Soforamast.
The area in which the cosmonauts had to work was located on distance of appr. 31
meters from the exithatch of Module-D (Kvant-2). To reach the freighter
Progress-M14 (attached to the Kvant-1 module) the cosmonauts had to walk along a
hazardous trajectory with a lot of obstacles (antennae, sensors, solarpanels,
experimental platforms, etc.) During the work on and near Kvant-1 they have to
do all to avoid collisions with vital devices. The container with the VDU had to
be removed from the mid-section of the Pr-M14. This they performed during the
1st EVA. It was possible to bend the top of the Soforomast to the VDU -the mast
has some hinges enabling this. During all EVA-s Peter (from Altair) and I (from
VHF) monitored a lot of interesting radiotraffic. Via a frequency used during
EVA-s interference from aeronautical stations -possibly around 132.8 mc- can be
heard on the downlinks making monitoring difficult. Obviously this does not
influence the quality of the signals between the cosmonauts.

1st EVA Solovyov and Avdeyev: 3.09.92 1330-1749UTC. Removing of the container
with the VDU from Pr-M14.

2d EVA: 7.09 from 1145-1650UTC. Lowering the Sovietflag, bending the Soforamast,
attaching cables and supports, lowering and removing of the Soviet flag. A lot
of interesting radiotraffic could be monitored by Peter from Altair. After the
EVA the crew transmitted recorded TV images to Earth.

3th EVA: 11.09.92 1010-1545UTC. Fixing the VDU in top of the Soforamast and
erecting the mast.

4th EVA: 15.09.92 0810-1122UTC (originally planned for the period 0810-1410UTC).
Ultimate checks and adjustments of the VDU-supports and cables. Also some
activities regarding other matters: bringing back materials from the outside of
Kvant-1. These materials have been exposed to open space for a long time. They
also brought back some experimental solar cells. The crew did some maintenance
work on Kvant's Kurs-antenna. They installed a modification to enhance the
docking operations of Soyuz-TM-s and Progress-M-s to the aft docking port.
(A Russian press report undoubtedly will cause some confusion among experts. In
the opinion of Radio Moscow's source the modification was necessary to make
dockings of Buran -and eventual Hermes- to the MIR-complex possible. Buran never
can dock to the Kvant (aft) docking port. Those dockings are only possible to
the special docking device -the well-known modified ASTP-system- on Module-T
-Kristall. To make such dockings possible Module-T has to be redocked from the
lateral to the axial forward docking port of the transition section.)

Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.