Subject: Mir News 290 from Chris Vandenberg
From: Charles Radley <[email-masked]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 96 17:41:41 EST

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  Msg#: 2330                                         Date: 02-22=C496  15:48
  From: Chris Vandenberg                             Read: Yes    Replied:=
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    To: All                                          Mark:                  =
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  Subj: Mirnews.290
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MIRNEWS.290      22 FEBRUARY 1996

Soyuz-TM23 launched:

On 21.02.1996 at 12hrs 34mins 5secs the transportship Soyuz-TM23 was=
 launched
for a 2-days flight to the MIR-spacestation. The crew consists of the
commander Yuriy Onufrienko and the boardengineer Yuriy Usachov. Onufrienko
makes his first spa ceflight; for Usachov this is the 2d flight. The
reliefcrew is the crew for the 21st Main Expedition to MIR. They will relie=
 ve
the crew of the 20st M.E. So for a while there will be 2 men on board MIR.=
 In
March the American woman astronaut Shan non Lucid will join them after the
docking of the shuttle
Atlantis.=20

Radiocommunications: Already during the first pass over here after the=
 launch
radiotraffic revealed that all was well on board: the condition of the 2
kosmonauts was excellent and all systems worked flawlessly. 2=
 orbitcorrections
took place
during the 3d orbit: at 1408 and 1428UTC. The last impuls
lasted 1 min and 3 secs.

Planned dockingtime: If all goes according to wishes the S-TM23 will dock to
the aft axial dockingport (+X, Kvant-1) of the MIR-complex on 23.02.1996 at
1420UTC; planned opening of the hatches on 1550UTC.

Progress-M30: This freighter had to free the aft docking port to make place
for the S-TM23. Pr-M30 undocked on 22.02.1996 at 07hrs 26mins 47sec UTC.
Planned decay over a designated area in the Pacific east of New-Zealand at=
 abt
1428UTC.  =20

Visual observations: The clear sky on 21.02.96 enabled visual observers to=
 try
to catch a glimpse of the Soyuz-TM23 and the 3d stage of the rocket. I saw=
 the
3d stage at 1838UTC, but did not see the S-TM23 itself. Observers in UK and
the Netherlands had the same experience. One observer in Belgium saw the 3d
stage but also the S-TM23. He logged 1841UTC for the S-TM23.=20

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

-!- Maximus 2.01
 ! Origin: Scoop BBS (The Netherlands) +31-33-2996366 (2:500/202)