MIRNEWS.277    20 OCTOBER 1995

                        MOLODTSY!!!

1ste Spacewalk (EVA) 20th Main Exp. to MIR and Euromir95:

'Molodtsy' means 'well done' and the cosmonauts deserve this
compliment after the successful EVA made by Avdeyev and Reiter
today. They accomplish all tasks without problems and fully
according to schedule. Long before they opened the exit-hatch
of the airlock of Module-D they were busy with preparations.
In that period the traffic was relayed by the trackingstations
in the East of Siberia. The cosmonauts opened the exit-hatch
at 1155UTC and closed this after their return into the airlock
at 1706UTC. So a duration of 5 hours 11 minutes.
During all passes they used the geo-sat Altair for communica
tions. Only phone, so no images. Images made by Gidzenko from
inside the complex and by Reiter have been sent to earth in a
session after the EVA. The images were very good: for instance
Reiter sitting in the Strela girder during his transfer to the
outersurface of the Spektr module. Avdeyev was at the base of
that crane to control the transfer. Some interesting close-ups
showed Reiter while he was installing cassettes with experi
ments on some platforms of Spektr. Often good images of the
earth and parts of the enormous complex could be seen. After
the EVA Avdeyev and Reiter were shown while they left the
airlock Sh.S.O. and entered the P.N.O. (Instrument and scien
tific compartment). The cooperation of the cosmonauts was very
good and can be a model for the future spacestation Alpha.
During the EVA Reiter also gave a short address in english
dedicated to this mission and the positive results of the
meeting of ESA ministers in Toulouse.

The future: During this expedition we can expect 2 more EVA's:
1 done by the Russians and an extra one by Reiter an a Russi
an. Reiter's 2d EVA is possible due to the extension of this
expedition annex Euromir95. The 20st Main Expedition and
Euromir95 will return to earth on 29.02.1996.

Coorection on MIRNEWS.276: Avdeyev made his 4 EVA's during his
flight in 1992/93.

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