Subject: mirnews.380
From: "C.M. van den Berg" <[email-masked]>
To: "Dan Gauthier" <[email-masked]>, "dirk rensink" <[email-masked]>, "Dave Larsen" <[email-masked]>, "Jonathan McDowell" <[email-masked]>, "Friends Partners Space" <[email-masked]>, "Igor Lissov" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 21:09:53 +0200

MIRNEWS.380                          25 AUGUST 1997

Internal Spacewalk (IVA):  accomplished on 22.08.97 from 1114-1430UTC. 
Some minor technical irregularities caused a delay of more than 2 hours. 
The crew worked according to a checklist (cyclogram).  This checklist
contained hundreds of items. The activities according to this checklist
continued when the MIR was out of range of tracking stations or the
geostationary Altair-2. This time Altair-2  was  in use for phone
conversations  only.  Altair-2 was active long before the IVA began, for
instance during orbit 65734 from 0640-0732UTC.  The crew donned there
spacesuits and Foale went on board Soyuz-TM26. 

According to plan the preparations for the IVA had to be concluded and the
hatch to Spektr had to be opened during the window in orb. 65735, 
0826-0910UTC.  A valve (KVD) between the P.Kh.O. and one of the modules
(possibly module-T) could not be closed which caused a delay of about 1
hour. 

In orbit 65736 (0958-1043UTC) all went well and at 1015UTC the pressure in
P.Kh.O. (serving as  airlock for this IVA)  was 50 mm.  At that moment the
pressure in the space suit of Vinogradov decreased due to a leak in his
left glove.  The crew immediately repressurized the P.Kh.O.  They did this
before the end of the window and Vinogradov could put on a spare glove.  
At 1114UTC when the MIR was out of range the hatch to Spektr had been
opened. 

Orbit 65737,  1135-1216UTC.: IVA going on.  All went well. Solovyov had
joined Vinogradov inside the module. Vinogradov had already connected
cables at the connectors of the new hatch and  except for a single cable he
did  not met  problems. During this window and the following one (orb.
65738/39, 1310-1400UTC)  V. and S.  inspected the interior of Spektr and
retrieved a lot of  thusfar not specified items from there. During these
activities they consulted Foale. Vinogradov reported that he saw
ventilators and pumps which were still working.  He and S.  did not find 
traces of exploded monitors or test-tubes.  They did not succeed in finding
places where the hull of Spektr had been penetrated.  At last V. and S.
left the Spektr to  prepare the closure of the hatch.  Foale , keeping  a
log book,  reported that  the hatch had been closed at 1430UTC. 

After repressurizing the P.Kh.O. in orb. 65740 (1448-1528UTC), Foale joined
his colleagues over there. In a short statement he expressed his admiration
 for the achievements of his crewmates and  those on Earth who had been
working on this operation. 

Chris Vandenberg, NL-9165/A-UK3202