MIRNEWS.327 12 SEPTEMBER 1996 Activities on board MIR: The crew has spend a lot of time and efforts to repair an airseal problem in one of the modules. Obviously the problem has been solved, but the cause of that what might have been a leakage seems to be a mystery. Meanwhile the crew started preparations for the meeting with the Atlantis (STS-79) still to be launched on 16.09.1996 at 0854UTC. Apart from extra physical training Sannon is packing things which she has to transfer to Atlantis for delivery on earth. Assisted by Kaleri, who also gave her instructions, Shannon tried out a spacesuit. She reported (in Russian) to TsUP that the suit was the right size and that she was sure to be able to use it if if this might be unlooked-for necessary. TsUP confirmed that this exercise had to be done in case of an eventual return of Shannon with a Soyuz-TM. One of the means to inject oxygen in the atmosphere of the complex is the system Elektron. These systems produce oxygen out of water by an electrolysis process. Nitrogen is needed for the purging of these Elektrons, but also for the pressurizing. Nowadays there is not enough nitrogen on board and new supplies, which have to be delivered by Atlantis and Progress-M33 (in October) are badly needed. Atlantis (STS-79): If all goes according to plan and Atlantis starts on 16.09.1996 at 0854UTC radio-amateurs in Western-Europa can try to monitor phone reports from Atlantis at abt. 20 minutes after launch. This might be possible during the first contact of Atlantis via a relay-facility in Spain. During the last flight of Atlantis signals could be monitored on 259.700 mc AM. After an elapsed time of 2days 18hrs 23mins Atlantis must link up with MIR, so if the launch goes as planned and the flight has been proceeding well this will take place on 19.09.1996 at 0017UTC (for the USA still 18.09). If the same communications are used as during the last Atlantis mission an American TDRS as well as a Russian Altair (1 or 2 or both) will be used during approach and docking. 23 minutes after the 'soft docking' the so called 'hardmate' will take place. After a check period of 2hrs and 25mins the hatches will be opened. Radio-amateurism: During the last week a lot of traffic, Packet Radio and Phone could be heard on 145.550mc. Korzun is an enthousiast radio-amateur and he made a lot of QSO-s over Western Europe. His knowledge of the english language and his feeling for radio-amateurism enables him to do this and to enjoy it. Apart from some recorded voice messages on 437.925mc I cannot say much about the use of the Safex-2 facilities in the Priroda module. Here the UHF-frequencies 437.925, 437.950 and 437.975 mc are used for medical purposes (hearth monitoring) by a hospital nearby. Monitoring these frequencies is such a torment that it would endanger the condition of my hearth in such a way that I myself even might need that service by that hospital! Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.