Subject: mirnews.386
From: "C.M. van den Berg" <[email-masked]>
To: "Gianandrea Redaelli" <[email-masked]>, "dirk rensink" <[email-masked]>, "Dave Larsen" <[email-masked]>, "Jonathan McDowell" <[email-masked]>, "Friends Partners Space" <[email-masked]>, "Mats Rieschel" <[email-masked]>
Cc: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 20:06:54 +0100

MIRNEWS.386                                       29 SEPTEMBER 1997

Computerfailure:  

Compared to computer failures in the past the crew was able to restore the
situation very quickly. In the night from 22 to 23.09 the crew successfully
rebooted the same computer which they had replaced last week. The computer
which failed on 22.09 had been stored for a long period in a cold and wet
module. 

The following day the crew restarted a number of gyrodynes. Another failure
they had to cope with was a malfunctioning ventilator of the Vozdukh, the
CO2 filter. The replacement of this ventilator was easy, but the crew lost
much time in finding a spare.

The crew changed their sleep schedule to prepare for the arrival of
Atlantis and for the period in which Atlantis will be attached to MIR.  To
be sure that the computer will remain operational the crew used an air duct
for cooling.  The gyrodynes functioned normally on 24.09 and so did the
Vozdukh. 

During a direct TV-session in the early morning of 25.09  Foale commented
images from the interior of the Base Block and explained the problems with
the computer. He also showed some video-recordings of his EVA on 6.09. 

Launch of Atlantis for mission STS-86: On 26.09 at 0234UTC Atlantis was
launched while MIR flew over Europa and commicated with TsUP.  The crew was
listening to a direct report of the launch.  No reaction could be monitored
for MIR disappeared over the horizon. 

Atlantis, communications: Exactly 19 minutes after the launch
(0253-0300UTC) Atlantis was in our range and communcated with Houstion via
a trackingstation in Spain. Wetherbee reported a minor failure which he
should ignore.  So he did with some other minor problems. He assured
Houston to keep an eye on those matters. 

Docking Atlantis: In the course of 27.09 one of the channels of the
computer behaved in a strange way. This lasted only a few milliseconds. 

A long time before the rendez-vous  Atlantis and MIR were in range  of each
other enabling  both crews were   to communicate via direct VHF-channels.
Regretfully this all took place out of our range. 

At abt. 1900UTC Atlantis reached a point at 200 Metes below MIR. From there
by the use of  the R-bar (or radial vector) approach she gently drifted to
MIR with only a few little corrections with steering rockets by Wehterbee. 
After altering his approach due to  a   minor deviation of the attitude of
the MIR-complex  he flawlessly  docked Atlantis at MIR. The Russians
reported this success with the words 'kasaniye and zakhvat' (touch and
capture). 

After a few minutes followed the hard mate and   the airtight checks. The
equalization gave some problems: Foale felt pain is his ears and in
Spacehab an alarm indicated that the equalization was proceeding too
quickly. 

For me it was a pleasure to hear Titov again from MIR.  Almost 9 years ago
he left MIR after being in space for  366 days. (He then returned to earth
together with Jean Loup Chretien, who had been in MIR for almost a month.) 

Relief: On the first full day of the Atlantis/MIR link-up Wolf replaced
Foale as a member of the MIR crew, when Wolf's seatliner for his seat in
the Soyuz-TM26 had been installed in this ' ferry- and rescue vehicle'.
Wolf will use the Module-D as his working- and living quarters. He will
sleep in the airlock of that module. 

Radiotraffic MIR:  During the Atlantis/MIR link-up MIR will use the
communications facilities of the Shuttle as well as the normal MIR
frequencies.  The Shuttle is also equipped with the 130.165 mc, the so
called VHF-1.  On board of the Shuttle this channel is AB-2.  In the night
from 28 to 29.09 MIR communicated with TsUP Moscow on 143.625 mc. During
this traffic TsUP reported that the Shuttle was flying in 'free drift'. 
This took place in the framework of an attitude control experiment. During
the next pass for our position at abt. 2200UTC the Shuttle was in control
of the attitude again. 

Spacewalk (EVA): This EVA will be made by Parazynski and Titov and is
scheduled for 1.10 between 1844-2334UTC (date and timeline not yet fully
confirmed). The astronauts will retrieve a container with the MEEP
experiment and 'park' a cap which might be necessary for the repair of
Spektr's hull. In fact this will be an American EVA and the astronauts will
enter open space through the airlock of the Shuttle. During the windows in
which Atlantis/MIR is in range it might be  worthwhile to monitor Shuttle's
EVA frequency 279.000 mc (mode AM-Wide). 

Installation of the new computer:  Possibly this computer will be installed
during the Atlantis/MIR link-up. A final decision still has to be taken. 
If so this will be done after the EVA.  If circumstances demand this  the
link-up of Atlantis and MIR can be extended by 24 hours. 

Chris Vandenberg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.