Subject: mirnews.400
From: "C.M. vd Berg" <[email-masked]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 19:19:35 -0500

MIRNEWS.400                                  22 DECEMBER 1997

Inspektor: On 17.12.97 the planned orbit correction of the MIR did not take
place due to a problem with a format mistake in the received computer data.
 A very little correction was executed the next day. On this day, 18.12,
the cosmonauts tried as much as possible to observe Inspektor visually and
by distance measuring equipment.  Regularly they reported their findings to
TsUP.  During the pass in orbit 67581 (1550-1600UTC) they saw how Inspektor
flew lower with  the earth in the background.  At 151052UTC the distance
between MIR and Inspektor was 760 Meters and at 151403UTC  885 Meters.
After this observation Inspektor 'walked' out of the sight of the porthole.

Freon leak: Already on 18.12 the attention for Inspektor was distracted by
a technical problem.  Out of the BKV-3 (airconditioner) leaked Freon away. 
On 19 as well as on 20.12 Solovyov and Vinogradov worked hard on this
problem. The work also involved the functioning of other life supporting
systems and they also spoke about the 'separation of cooling- and/or
heating loops'.  Sometimes it was extremely difficult to reach areas in
which they had to work.  For a long time I did not understand what the real
problem was for they did not use the word 'freon' in their conversations. 
On 20.12 an American consultant at TsUP told David Wolf that there was a
freon leak. Wolf knew about it, but he did not know where the freon came
from. His countryman at TsUP told him that the leak was in the BKV-3.  He
also stated that there was no danger to the health of the crew, but he
asked David to take an air sample in the area of the BKV-3. 

Progress-M36: On 19.12.97 this freighter decayed in the atmosphere over the
Pacific. The de-orbit burn was given at 132001UTC and Pr-M37 'ceased its
existance' at 135901UTC. 

Progress-M37: One of the greatest achievements in Russian spaceflight is
the fact  that launches almost always take place exactly at the announced
time. This  launch was scheduled for 20.12.97 at 0845UTC.  The Russians
again gave an example of their mastership in this field: the launch from
Baykonur took place at 08.45.01UTC!
During the 4th and 5th orbit the telemetry  and beacon transmitters could
be monitored in Western Europe. During the pass in the 5th orbit  between
1451 and 1457UTC the signals were very strong on all frequencies. For my
position I had a TCA (Time Closest Approach) at 145240UTC. At that moment
the received frequency  was exactly  922.755 mc.  On 21.12 the Pr-M37 was
still as fit as a fiddle which could be derived from the strong signals
during the pass in the 20th orbit with a TCA at 132432UTC.
 
Approach and docking Pr-M37: The estimated docking time (1045UTC)  given in
MIRNEWS.399 was incorrect. This time had to be appr. 20 minutes earlier.  I
could not give an E-mail with the correction due to a malfunctioning E-mail
server of my Internet provider. (A children's complaint after the fusion of
2 Dutch Internet providers.)

For a long time the approach could be derived from traffic via Altair-2.
This traffic started at 0948UTC and continued until 2 minutes before the
actual docking.  Both cosmonauts were active during this by TORU guided
operation.  Vinogradov played an importand role during this remote control
and before the final phase of the approach started he thoroughly tested the
TORU system.

During the operation Solovyov reported distances and approach speeds.  2
minutes before the 'touch' they switched over to a television transmission,
but there were no images.  Possibly the images of the approach had been
given via the TORU transmitters.  Pr-M37 docked at the aft (Kvant-1 
+X-axis) of the complex at 10.22.14UTC.  Pr-M37 delivered the normal
supplies,   presents and post for the crew and a rubber gasket-ring for the
repair of the hatch of the Module-D airlock. 

The crew had opened the hatches to Progress-M37 earlier than planned.
Already during the pass in the next orbit the hatches were open.

Climate on board:   Still far from comfortable.  Also due to the problems
with BKV-3 (freon leak) and less than 100% performance of the cooling and
heating systems the differences in temperature and humidity between the
modules of the complex are great.  It is too hot in the Base Block and the
Kvant-1 and in other compartments its is too cold with a lot of
condensation. 

After the docking of Pr-M37 the crew got orders to deploy an airhose from
the Central Post in the Base Block to the BO (lifecompartment of the ship
Soyuz-TM26). 

In the evening of 22.12 the head of flight control in Moscow, Vladimir
Alekseyevich Solovyov,  spoke with the commander of MIR, Anatoliy Yakovlev
Solovyov about 'considerations' resulting in 'proposals' about the plans
for the near future. Instead of 3 spacewalks (EVA's) V.A. spoke about 2
EVA's,  just like had been planned in the beginning: on 5 and 12.01.1998. 
More time might be needed to be sure of a better preparation for the EVA on
5.1.98, during which the EVA hatch of Module-D has to be repaired.  The
successful repair of that hatch is a condition for the eventual
American-Russian EVA on 12.01.1998. So the EVA for 30.12.1997 will be
cancelled.  A.Ya. Solovyov  agrees, but in his opinion things like this can
be better analysed on earth than in space. 

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