Subject: MIRNEWS.392
From: "C.M. van den Berg" <[email-masked]>
To: "Keith Cowing" <[email-masked]>, "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]>, "Igor Lissov" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 16:05:06 +0100

MIRNEWS.392                                       31 OCTOBER 1997

Results 3d spacewalk (IVA) 24d Main Expedition MIR:

On 24.10.97 the cables from the vacuumplate to the solar panel interface in
the Kristall module had been deployed and after some tests 2 of the 3 still
living panels on the Spektr could be turned to the most effective angle
towards the sun. 

Already on 25.10 Solovyov got the first series of instructions for the next
2 spacewalks, EVA's this time, on 3 and  6.11.97. From this day on
practically all activities were related to those operations. 

On 26.10 Solovyov reported  enormous forest fires in the area of Barnaul
(Siberia).  The crew had discovered the fire already the day before,  but
now these fires had   considerably  increased.  Along a front of 100 KM the
fire moved to the North-West.  Solovyov wondered why the media did not give
any information about these fires. 

As of Monday, 27.10, the preparations for the 1st EVA on 3.11.97 began. 
The crew got comprehensive instructions, i.e. a video-simulation of the
operation and a huge amount of documentation.  During the following days
they collected and took stock off the equipment needed for the spacewalk
and they replaced goods from the airlock  and the scientific- and
instrument compartment of the Kvant-2 module to other locations in the
complex. The crew checked the 2 Orlan M suits and the communication systems
during the EVA. On Friday, 31.10,  these preparations were concluded during
a long communications session via Altair-2 in which TsUP transmitted video
images of the areas in which the cosmonauts have to work during the EVA.
These areas cannot be fully seen via the portholes of the complex. During
this video session the cosmonauts asked a lot of questions and got
additional instructions. 

The crew also downlinked images of one of the solar panels which did not
regularly turn. It sometimes stopped and went on stuttering. (Thusfar I do
not know  which   panel.)

During radiotraffic   in orb. 66833 (0918-0926UTC) the crew spoke with
Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, grandson of the famous rocket pioneer Tsiolkovskiy,
about the minisputnik PS-2 (also named Sputnik 40 and RS-17), which will be
launched by Vinogradov during the EVA on 3.11.  The cosmonauts had already
checked the transmitters and heard the Blieb Blieb signals. Samburov, the
radio-amateur mentor of all cosmonauts, urged them not to forget to switch
on the transmitters before deploying the satellite. They have to do that
after donning of the spacesuits. 

The EVA's:  
On 3.11.97, from 0130UTC (opening hatch) until appr. 0700UTC.
On 6.11.97, from 0030UTC until appr. 0600UTC. 

Don't forget to monitor 145.820 and 145.840 mc for the Sputnik ' Bliebs'
during MIR's passes in the morning of 3.11.97.

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