MIRNEWS.386 29 SEPTEMBER 1997 Computerfailure: Compared to computer failures in the past the crew was able to restore the situation very quickly. In the night from 22 to 23.09 the crew successfully rebooted the same computer which they had replaced last week. The computer which failed on 22.09 had been stored for a long period in a cold and wet module. The following day the crew restarted a number of gyrodynes. Another failure they had to cope with was a malfunctioning ventilator of the Vozdukh, the CO2 filter. The replacement of this ventilator was easy, but the crew lost much time in finding a spare. The crew changed their sleep schedule to prepare for the arrival of Atlantis and for the period in which Atlantis will be attached to MIR. To be sure that the computer will remain operational the crew used an air duct for cooling. The gyrodynes functioned normally on 24.09 and so did the Vozdukh. During a direct TV-session in the early morning of 25.09 Foale commented images from the interior of the Base Block and explained the problems with the computer. He also showed some video-recordings of his EVA on 6.09. Launch of Atlantis for mission STS-86: On 26.09 at 0234UTC Atlantis was launched while MIR flew over Europa and commicated with TsUP. The crew was listening to a direct report of the launch. No reaction could be monitored for MIR disappeared over the horizon. Atlantis, communications: Exactly 19 minutes after the launch (0253-0300UTC) Atlantis was in our range and communcated with Houstion via a trackingstation in Spain. Wetherbee reported a minor failure which he should ignore. So he did with some other minor problems. He assured Houston to keep an eye on those matters. Docking Atlantis: In the course of 27.09 one of the channels of the computer behaved in a strange way. This lasted only a few milliseconds. A long time before the rendez-vous Atlantis and MIR were in range of each other enabling both crews were to communicate via direct VHF-channels. Regretfully this all took place out of our range. At abt. 1900UTC Atlantis reached a point at 200 Metes below MIR. From there by the use of the R-bar (or radial vector) approach she gently drifted to MIR with only a few little corrections with steering rockets by Wehterbee. After altering his approach due to a minor deviation of the attitude ofthe MIR- complex he flawlessly docked Atlantis at MIR. The Russians reported this success with the words 'kasaniye and zakhvat' (touch and capture). After a few minutes followed the hard mate and the airtight checks. The equalization gave some problems: Foale felt pain is his ears and in Spacehab an alarm indicated that the equalization was proceeding too quickly. For me it was a pleasure to hear Titov again from MIR. Almost 9 years ago he left MIR after being in space for 366 days. (He then returned to earth together with Jean Loup Chretien, who had been in MIR for almost a month.) Relief: On the first full day of the Atlantis/MIR link-up Wolf replaced Foale as a member of the MIR crew, when Wolf's seatliner for his seat in the Soyuz-TM26 had been installed in this ' ferry- and rescue vehicle'. Wolf will use the Module-D as his working- and living quarters. He will sleep in the airlock of that module. Radiotraffic MIR: During the Atlantis/MIR link-up MIR will use the communications facilities of the Shuttle as well as the normal MIR frequencies. The Shuttle is also equipped with the 130.165 mc, the so called VHF-1. On board of the Shuttle this channel is AB-2. In the night from 28 to 29.09 MIR communicated with TsUP Moscow on 143.625 mc. During this traffic TsUP reported that the Shuttle was flying in 'free drift'. This took place in the framework of an attitude control experiment. During the next pass for our position at abt. 2200UTC the Shuttle was in control of the attitude again. Spacewalk (EVA): This EVA will be made by Parazynski and Titov and is scheduled for 1.10 between 1844-2334UTC (date and timeline not yet fully confirmed). The astronauts will retrieve a container with the MEEP experiment and 'park' a cap which might be necessary for the repair of Spektr's hull. In fact this will be an American EVA and the astronauts will enter open space through the airlock of the Shuttle. During the windows in which Atlantis/MIR is in range it might be worthwhile to monitor Shuttle's EVA frequency 279.000 mc (mode AM-Wide). Installation of the new computer: Possibly this computer will be installed during the Atlantis/MIR link-up. A final decision still has to be taken. If so this will be done after the EVA. If circumstances demand this the link-up of Atlantis and MIR can be extended by 24 hours. Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.