MIRNEWS.480    12 MAY 2000

1st Spacewalk (EVA) 28th Main Expedition MIR:

The cosmonauts executed this EVA flawlessly on 12.05.2000 and they did
this well within the planned time. The cosmonauts entered open space via
the air-lock (Sh.S.O.) of Kvant-2 (Module-D) at 1044UTC and closed the
hatch after their return at 1536UTC.

The ‘germatizator-experiment’, the use of a special glue to seal off
cracks or damages at the outside surface of the complex, was executed
according to plan. The following activity was the inspection of a
malfunctioning solarbattery on the Kvant-1 (Module-E). Problem with this
solarbattery was that it was impossible to turn the panel into the most
effective angle towards the sun. The cosmonauts found out that the
steering cable to the rotor of the solarbattery was burnt through during
a short-circuit. The cosmonauts made images of the the cable. During the
future exploitation the Russians will have to work without power produced
by that solarbattery. Flightcontrol regrets this very much, but it is no
disaster for there are still 9 well working solarbatteries. Thereafter
the cosmonauts dismantled an experimental solarbattery from the outer
surface of the SO (docking compartment). This experimental panel
consisted of very thin material.

The last activity was the so called panorama-inspection, making images of
the outside of the complex to enable specialist to analyse the effects of
aging of the material. The new freighter Progress-M1-2 was also inserted
in this inspection.

When MIR came in range for Western-Europe during orbit 81356, 1609-
1615UTC, the cosmonauts were inside the air-lock. Kaleri cleary reported
about the status of the damaged steering cable. He had observed how the
short-circuit had burnt through the insulation over a considerable
length.

Radiotraffic during the next orbit (81357, 1740-1751UTC) began with a
contact of the crew with the trackingstation of the DLR (GSOC)
Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich. In English the crew transmitted greetings
to the operators at GSOC and expressed their gratitude for the
assistance. It was clear that GSOC had problems with the communications
with TsUP Moscow and was not able to relay MIR’s traffic. The short
contact did not reveal whether the appearance of GSOC had been
spontaneous or had been officially planned. It was encouraging to hear
that this assistance was still possible. It might be that the staff of
GSOC in this way gets the opportunity to train on these communications,
just like NASA already does with the staff of some tracking facilities
with a view to the future International Spacestation.

Radiotraffic during this and the next pass was related to the situation
after the return on board of the complex. The cosmonauts had some
problems with condens on the glass of their helmets, This had been caused
by transpiration during the streneous work to close the hatch of the air-
lock. After connection the space suits to the power supply of the complex
and switching on extra cooling, the condens disappeared.

The crew promised to transmit to earth the images of the damaged steering
cable as soon as possible.

After the EVA the air pressure in the complex had decreased to 662 mm
Mercury. (Before the EVA the pressure had been 684 mm.) This is quite
normal for during an EVA a lot of air is flowing away into open space.

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