MIRNEWS.400    22 DECEMBER 1997

Inspektor:

On 17.12.97 the planned orbit correction of the MIR did not take place
due to a problem with a format mistake in the received computer data. A
very little correction was executed the next day. On this day, 18.12, the
cosmonauts tried as much as possible to observe Inspektor visually and by
distance measuring equipment. Regularly they reported their findings to
TsUP. During the pass in orbit 67581 (1550-1600UTC) they saw how
Inspektor flew lower with the earth in the background. At 151052UTC the
distance between MIR and Inspektor was 760 Meters and at 151403UTC 885
Meters. After this observation Inspektor 'walked' out of the sight of the
porthole.

Freon leak:

Already on 18.12 the attention for Inspektor was distracted by a
technical problem. Out of the BKV-3 (airconditioner) leaked Freon away.
On 19 as well as on 20.12 Solovyov and Vinogradov worked hard on this
problem. The work also involved the functioning of other life supporting
systems and they also spoke about the 'separation of cooling- and/or
heating loops'. Sometimes it was extremely difficult to reach areas in
which they had to work. For a long time I did not understand what the
real problem was for they did not use the word 'freon' in their
conversations. On 20.12 an American consultant at TsUP told David Wolf
that there was a freon leak. Wolf knew about it, but he did not know
where the freon came from. His countryman at TsUP told him that the leak
was in the BKV-3. He also stated that there was no danger to the health
of the crew, but he asked David to take an air sample in the area of the
BKV-3.

Progress-M36:

On 19.12.97 this freighter decayed in the atmosphere over the Pacific.
The de-orbit burn was given at 132001UTC and Pr-M37 'ceased its
existance' at 135901UTC.

Progress-M37:

One of the greatest achievements in Russian spaceflight is the fact that
launches almost always take place exactly at the announced time. This
launch was scheduled for 20.12.97 at 0845UTC. The Russians again gave an
example of their mastership in this field: the launch from Baykonur took
place at 08.45.01UTC! During the 4th and 5th orbit the telemetry and
beacon transmitters could be monitored in Western Europe. During the pass
in the 5th orbit between 1451 and 1457UTC the signals were very strong on
all frequencies. For my position I had a TCA (Time Closest Approach) at
145240UTC. At that moment the received frequency was exactly 922.755 mc.
On 21.12 the Pr-M37 was still as fit as a fiddle which could be derived
from the strong signals during the pass in the 20th orbit with a TCA at
132432UTC.

Approach and docking Pr-M37:

The estimated docking time (1045UTC) given in MIRNEWS.399 was incorrect.
This time had to be appr. 20 minutes earlier. I could not give an E-mail
with the correction due to a malfunctioning E-mail server of my Internet
provider. (A children's complaint after the fusion of 2 Dutch Internet
providers.) For a long time the approach could be derived from traffic
via Altair-2. This traffic started at 0948UTC and continued until 2
minutes before the actual docking. Both cosmonauts were active during
this by TORU guided operation. Vinogradov played an importand role during
this remote control and before the final phase of the approach started he
thoroughly tested the TORU system. During the operation Solovyov reported
distances and approach speeds. 2 minutes before the 'touch' they switched
over to a television transmission, but there were no images. Possibly the
images of the approach had been given via the TORU transmitters. Pr-M37
docked at the aft (Kvant-1 +X-axis) of the complex at 10.22.14UTC. Pr-M37
delivered the normal supplies, presents and post for the crew and a
rubber gasket-ring for the repair of the hatch of the Module-D airlock.
The crew had opened the hatches to Progress-M37 earlier than planned.
Already during the pass in the next orbit the hatches were open. Climate
on board: Still far from comfortable. Also due to the problems with BKV-3
(freon leak) and less than 100% performance of the cooling and heating
systems the differences in temperature and humidity between the modules
of the complex are great. It is too hot in the Base Block and the Kvant-1
and in other compartments its is too cold with a lot of condensation.
After the docking of Pr-M37 the crew got orders to deploy an airhose from
the Central Post in the Base Block to the BO (lifecompartment of the ship
Soyuz-TM26). In the evening of 22.12 the head of flight control in
Moscow, Vladimir Alekseyevich Solovyov, spoke with the commander of MIR,
Anatoliy Yakovlev Solovyov about 'considerations' resulting in
'proposals' about the plans for the near future. Instead of 3 spacewalks
(EVA's) V.A. spoke about 2 EVA's, just like had been planned in the
beginning: on 5 and 12.01.1998. More time might be needed to be sure of a
better preparation for the EVA on 5.1.98, during which the EVA hatch of
Module-D has to be repaired. The successful repair of that hatch is a
condition for the eventual American-Russian EVA on 12.01.1998. So the EVA
for 30.12.1997 will be cancelled. A.Ya. Solovyov agrees, but in his
opinion things like this can be better analysed on earth than in space.

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