MIRNEWS.369    11 JULY 1997

Progress-M35:

In contrast with the normal practice after dockings this time the crew
had to wait with the opening of the hatches until the next day to
conserve power and to enable the crew to have a good night's rest. The
subjects discussed during radiocommunications in the passes in the first
3 orbits after the docking had nothing to do with the arrival of the
Progress-M. They spoke about the replacement of watertanks, the
switching on and off of the Elektron for oxygenproduction and the work on
the accumulators. They had problems with the BKV-3 (air conditioning) and
something was wrong with the Vozdukh, the CO2 scrubber. The next day the
crew got permission to open the hatches and to start the unloading and
loading of the freighter. They immediately began to pump water into the
tanks of the complex. Foale had seen his 'goodies' for which he had been
anxiously waiting, but due to the congestion of goods he could not yet
reach them. This week radiotraffic revealed circumstances which did not
get much attention in the press and statusreports. Everybody is aware of
the fact that the module Spektr is as dead as a doornail, but the
powershortage also paralyzed another 2 huge modules, i.e. Kristall and
Priroda. Greatest anxieties causes the module Kristall. Near the docking
device for the Space shuttle (the SO, dockingcompartment is attached at
the Kristall) the high humidity causes a lot of condensation and there
but also in other places Foale and Lazutkin try to absorb this water as
much as possible using towels. Foale reported that the temperature in
Kristall is abt 4 a 5 degrees Celsius. Tsibliyev told TsUP that he blew
air into Kristall for warming up. The most important subject remained the
preparations for the coming spacewalk (IVA). The lion's share of this
work is in the hands of Tsibliyev. When this report went to press there
was not yet a complete scenario for the IVA. This meant that Tsibliyev
regularly has been confronted with changes. This also in relation to the
equipment and tools which they must have at hand during the IVA.
Tsibliyev asked for a definitive list of all what has to be put in the
IVA bag. Thusfar he several times had to replace things. He also urged
TsUP to avoid unnecessary delays. Now and then TsUP and the crew discuss
the collision. Foale and Tsibliyev repeat much what they have told
earlier. TsUP is still trying to trace the spot where Spektr's hull has
been perforated. TsUP asked Lazutkin to give his opinion based on that
what he heard during the collision. He told where he heard the hissing
(or: sizzling, Russian word 'shipeniye'). When you should enter the
module this must be in the wall on the left hand side. At first the blow
was at the radiator, which is installed between the 2d and 3d plane. In
the nearest (seen from the place where Lazutkin was) 'quarter'. If that
is the place of the fixation at the suspension obviously the puncture
must be there.

Radio-amateurism:

The Packet Radio 'circular saw rattles' can be heard again on 145.985 mc.
Now and then Foale (KB5UAC) publishes by P/R small statusreports. For
instance: On docking day: 'Progress docked normally this morning. We are
waiting 3 orbits before we start to unload it, checking the integrity of
the hatch seals. (In fact they had to put this back until the next
morning) The station attitude controls system is working well, using the
girodynes, and the power STH (?) the base block and module Kvant 2
powered (airlock and toilet) with modules Kristall and Priroda unpowered.
Greenhouse experiment is continuing, using power from the base block, to
dry the seed pods that have formed quite nicely.' After collision day:
Our packet pwr supply failed, and we had to rewire the equipment to a
newer one. All previous msgs here were lost. TNC Paccomm nolonger holds
its parameters, if pwr is turned off, since the Progress collision. Mike,
KB5UAC.'

And today:

'The crew is now extremely busy, trying to crawl through all the bags
unloaded from Progress, which are now stored in dark, wet modules, which
have no power. We are trying to inventory and assemble the 30 or so
cables and adapt, required to install the hatch umbilical. A training run
will be done on the 15th and the real eva sometime after that. I will get
some refresher training on preparing the soyuz for evacuation, and will
be in a spacesuit, b, in the Soyuz during the eva itself.'

Foale:

During the period just after the collision Foale had his quarters in the
P.Kh.O. (transitionsection). This P.Kh.O. will serve as airlock during
the IVA and so Foale had to remove. He is now living in the module Kvant-
2 (Module-D), which certainly will be more comfortable than the P.Kh.O.

Attitude control:

During this week the gyrodynes did not function continuously: sometimes
all of them of just 1 were spinned down for powerconservation and in
these periods for attitude control the small thruster jets of MIR and
(now) the Progress-M35 are used.

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