MIRNEWS.455    20 FEBRUARY 1999

Soyuz-TM29:

This transportship with on board a part of the crew for
MIR's Main Expedition 27 was launched from Baykonur on 20.02.1999 at
04.18.01UTC. Hoping that there would be a TV-station covering the launch
as a live event I decided to rise early. I was very pleased to see BBC-1
with the well-known (and well-informed) Phil Clark commenting the nice
images of the launch and of the cosmonauts on board S-TM29 after the
start waiting for the state of weightlessness.

It is almost sure that this crew will be the last relief crew for the MIR
space station.

Heading towards MIR with S-TM29 are Viktor Afanasyev, captain, making
his 3rd spaceflight, the CNES spacionaute, researcher and board-
engineer, Jean-Pierre Haignere, in space for the 2nd time and de Slovak
cosmonaut-researcher Ivan Bella. Bella will return to earth in the
Soyuz-TM28 together with the present MIR-captain, Padalka. Bella's
mission will last 10 days. In that period the 26th M.E. to MIR will be
relieved by the 27th, consisting of Afanasyev, Sergey Avdeyev and
Haignere.

Communications during the first flightday of Soyuz-TM29:

MIR was the first to come within my range during orbit 74310, 0606-
0608UTC. The elevation was somewhat more than 0 degree and the short
contact with TsUP was merely dedicated to the successful launch of S-
TM29. TsUP asked the crew of MIR whether they already were preparing
themselves for the oncoming meeting. Padalka stated that they already
were cleaning up the station. TsUP told them that Soyuz-TM29
successfully reached the calculated orbit and that the crew had finished
the tests of the Kurs approach system. They did not meet any problems.

Now I had to wait for the first pass of S-TM29 itself. During the 2nd
orbit between 0720 and 0722UT, Afanasyev, using his call sign Derbent-1,
reported that all went well and he left the task to report to TsUP a
series of data of the ships systems to Haignere, Derbent-2.

30 minutes later MIR came in range. To be prepared for the period in
which the station has to accommodate 5 men the MIR-crew was already
involved in checking and adjusting systems for the production of oxygen.

And on its 3rd pass Soyuz-TM29 showed up between 0849 and 0856UTC with
strong signals on all frequencies. TCA (Time Closest Approach) at
08.51.40UTC could be derived from the beacon signal on 922.755 mc. The 
circular saw sounding rattles of the Telemetry transmitters in the 166
and 165 mc bands were very strong. On 121.750 mc Afanasyev reported a
number of interesting data. These had to do with the 2 orbitcorrections:
the first one had been executed at 0753UTC and the second one just
started during this communication session. Regretfully the reports of
Afanasyev were jammed by transmissions from the groundservices of the
Airport Rotterdam, the position of which is at spitting distance from my
station. There they also use, though in AM-Wide, the 121.750 mc.

After radiotraffic between MIR and TsUP between 0911 and 0922UTC the
strong signals of S-TM29 again could be monitored during its 4th orbit,
1019-1028UTC. Using the Dopplereffect on 922.755 mc I could determine
the TCA as 10.24.17UTC.

A calm Afanasyev told TsUP that the 'boys' (mal'chiki), so Haignere and
Bella, went into the B.O. (life compartment) to eat somewhat. (Very good
for if you suffer from space disease you do not like food). Being in the
B.O. Haignere speaks with TsUP. He asks TsUP to pass a series of
birthdyay congratulations. In the first place to everybody about the
13th (and possibly the last) birthday of the MIR, so in fact of the base
block, and to the cosmonauts Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov, Mikhail
Fulier (now flying from Baykonur to Moscow) and last but not least the
good old Vasiliy Vasilyevich Tsibliyev.

If all continues to go well we will be able to hear the transmissions
of Soyuz-TM29 during the 2nd flight day.

Expected docking Soyuz-TM29 at MIR's forward (-X axis -Transition
Section) docking port on 22.02.1999 at 0551UTC. So long after the first
pass of both objects for Western Europe. (in the Netherlands between
0524 and 0527UTC with an elevation of a little bit more than 1 degree).

Chris van den Berg , NL-9165/A-UK3202.