MIRNEWS.353                                                7 APRIL 1997
Launch Progress-M34:  The Pr-M34 was launched from Baykonur on 6.04.97 at 
16.04.05UTC.  This was according to plan. Unt il now (morning of 7.04.97 UTC) 
the flight 
of Pr-M34 is proceeding well.  During the 4th and 5th orbit the necessary 
orbitcorrections have been executed. If all w ill go as planned the Pr-M34 
will dock to the aft (Kvant-1) dockingport (+X axis) on 8.04.1997 at abt. 
1729UTC. 
Radiotraffic Pr-M34: In the evening of 6.04.1997 the transmitters of Pr-M34 
could be monitored in the 166, 165 and 922 mc bands between 2039-2042UTC and 
2209-2213UTC. Radiotraffic MIR: During the last nights there has been a lot 
of radiot raffic. The windows during hours in which the crew normally is 
sleeping  were needed badly to coordinate with TsUP matt ers regarding a lot 
of technical problems. 
Significance of the freighter Pr-M34: These days the MIR-spacestation goes 
through a very critical phase.  A lot of fai lures harass the MIR-complex 
during the last weeks and in particular the problems regarding the 
maintenance of an accep table atmosphere on board  in fact passed admissable 
limits.  The only way to produce oxygen is the use of the lithium perchlorate 
cartridges.  The crew cannot use the whole available supply of these so 
called 'shashki'  2 or 3 of which t hey consume daily.  The series of 
cartridges to which the 'naughty' one belonged and that caused a fire some 
weeks ago 
 cannot be used.  That means that there  is only a supply for a few days. 
Pr-M34 has to deliver the necessary cartridge s to ensure the oxygen supply 
until the docking of Atlantis in her mission STS-84 in May.  Atlantis can 
also bring to M IR a replacement for the Elektron system.  By electrolysis 
the Elektron can generate oxygen from waste water, for insta nce water 
distilled from urine.  Possibly the Atlantis will also deliver a new Vozdukh, 
the system to absorb  carbonic acid (CO2) from the air on board.  This 
Vozdukh broke down in the night from 3 to 4 Aprill 1997 and could not be 
repair ed.  The failure of that Vozdukh was the last one in a long sequence 
of set-backs.  Fate of the MIR-station as a manned
 complex is hanging by a thread.  If the docking of Progress-M34 to the 
complex fails the crew will have to return to E arth by Soyuz-TM25 within a 
few days. 
Dockingprocedure:  This time there is still the possibility to execute the 
approach and docking in the automatic mode b y the system Kurs. If the first 
attempt to dock in this way fails Tsibliyev has to take over and dock Pr-M34 
manually b y the system TORU.  In 1994 the cosmonaut Malenchenko secured the 
continuation of the manned flights on MIR with the TO RU-docking of 
Progress-M24.  Perhaps Tsibliyev will have to take the same responsibility 
tomorrow.  Radiotraffic in the
 evening of 6.04 revealed that among the activities for 7.04 there would be 
the checking and training with TORU.       
                                                 
   
Altair-2 (23426 - 94082A):  During the 'snail-paced' move of this 
geostationary satellite from East to West  she is not
 operational  and will not be used for MIR-TsUP communications.  It might be 
possible that Altair-2 equal to her predec essor Altair-1 has a service 
beacon on 11.380 GHz.  If so we might be able to catch up a sign of life of 
this satellite
 before she reaches the position over 16 dgs West. . 
C.M. v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
--- Maximus 2.01
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