MIRNEWS.354                                                     9 APRIL 1997
Progress-M34:   Without problems the freighter Pr-M34 linked up with the 
MIR-complex. The soft docking, the so called ' kasaniye' (touch) took place 
on 8.04.97 at 17.30.01UTC. The approach and docking took place in the 
automatic mode by th e use of the system Kurs.  The Pr-M34 docked at the aft 
(Kvant-1  +X axis) docking port. During the 1st  pass of MIR an d Pr-M34 
(orbits 63618/34) between 1721-1726UTC it was obvious that the approach was 
going on.  The crew did not report
 many details of the approach apart from the distance: 150 M. Tsibliyev was 
on the alert to take over manually by the s ystem TORU, but he met problems 
with the image on the screen, which he needed for that operation. In 
coordination with TsUP he even consulted the on board documentation to 
resolve that problem if necessary. So that what I could derive fro m 
radiotraffic did not convince me that the approach was successful.  Moreover 
LOS for my position was 4 minutes before
 the actual docking.  During the next orbit (63619 - 1856-1903UTC) it was 
obvious that the docking had been successfull y accomplished: of the 2 
hatches between the Kvant-1 and Pr-M34 the crew already had opened the hatch 
on the side of MI R. They had to wait with the opening of the Pr-M34 hatch 
until the airseal checks had been completed.  The next orbit e verything had 
been opened and the crew already had deployed an airhose between the 2 
objects. The mix of the oxygen com ing from Pr-M34 with that of MIR did not 
give any problems. 
MIR-routine: So for the time being the exploitation of the MIR-spacestation 
as a manned complex has been secured.  Now there are sufficient lithium 
perchlorate cartridges to ensure the oxygen production until the arrival of 
Atlantis in Ma y.  Pr-M34 delivered a lot of spare parts and reparation 
material , but whether these are sufficient to do something on
 the defective Elektron oxygen machines is not sure.  Let us hope that there 
is now enough material to do something on other defective and faltering 
systems.  The failure of the CO2 absorption filter Vozdukh emerged less than 
a week ago s o it is unlikely that the Russians were able to deliver with 
Pr-M34  anything for the reparation. Apart from the lithiu m perchlorate 
cartridges Pr-M34 brought a tank with 50 KG pure oxygen. 
Compliments: The Russians deserve our serious compliments for the fact that 
they again solved a lot of almost  hopeless
 problems and thus made the continuation of the cooperation with NASA  in the 
IRS Alpha precursor program possible.  Th e history of the Russian people 
that suffered so much  ("mnogostradal'nogo Russkogo naroda") gave the 
Russians the inst inct to survive during the most inclement circumstances and 
in spaceflight they regularly proved that they know how to use that quality. 
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
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