MIRNEWS.369                                               11 JULY 1997
Progress-M35:  In contrast with the normal practice after dockings this time 
the crew had to wait with the opening of t he hatches until the next day  to 
conserve power and to enable the crew to have a good night's rest.  The 
subjects disc ussed during radiocommunications in the passes in the first 3 
orbits after the docking  had nothing to do with the arri val of the 
Progress-M. They spoke about the replacement of watertanks, the switching on 
and off of the Elektron for oxy genproduction and the  work on the 
accumulators. They had problems with the BKV-3 (air conditioning) and 
something was wrong with the Vozdukh, the CO2 scrubber.  The next day the 
crew got permission to open the hatches and to start the un loading and 
loading of the freighter. They immediately began to pump water into the tanks 
of the complex.  Foale had se en his 'goodies'  for which he had been 
anxiously waiting, but due to the congestion of goods he could not yet  reach 
t hem.  This week radiotraffic revealed circumstances which did not get much 
attention in the press and statusreports. Ev erybody is aware of the fact 
that the module Spektr is as dead as a doornail, but the powershortage also 
paralyzed anot her 2 huge modules, i.e. Kristall and Priroda.  Greatest 
anxieties causes the module Kristall.  Near the docking device
 for the Space shuttle (the SO, dockingcompartment is attached at the 
Kristall)  the high humidity causes a lot of cond ensation and there but also 
 in other places Foale and Lazutkin try to absorb this water as much as 
possible using towe ls.  Foale reported that the temperature in Kristall is 
abt 4 a 5 degrees Celsius. Tsibliyev told TsUP that he blew air
 into Kristall for warming up. The most important subject remained the 
preparations for the coming spacewalk (IVA). The
 lion's share of this work is in the hands of Tsibliyev. When this report 
went to press there was not yet a  complete s cenario for the IVA. This meant 
that Tsibliyev regularly has been confronted with changes.  This also in 
relation to th e equipment and tools which they must have at hand during the 
IVA.  Tsibliyev asked for a definitive list of all what h as to be put in the 
IVA bag. Thusfar he several times had to replace things. He also urged TsUP 
to avoid unnecessary de lays. Now and then TsUP and the crew discuss the 
collision. Foale and Tsibliyev repeat much what they have told earlier .  
TsUP is still trying to trace the spot where Spektr's hull has been 
perforated. TsUP asked Lazutkin to give his opin ion based on that what he 
heard during the collision. He told where he heard the hissing (or: sizzling, 
  Russian word 'shipeniye'). When you should enter the module this must be in 
the wall on the left hand side. At first the blow was at
 the radiator, which is installed between the 2d and 3d plane.  In the 
nearest (seen from the place where Lazutkin was)
 'quarter'.  If that is the place of the fixation at the suspension obviously 
the puncture must be there. 
Radio-amateurism:
The Packet Radio 'circular saw rattles'  can be heard again on 145.985 mc. 
Now and then Foale  (KB5UAC) publishes by P/ R small statusreports.  For 
instance:
On docking day:   'Progress docked normally this morning. We are waiting 3 
orbits before we start to unload it, checkin g the integrity of the hatch 
seals. (In fact they had to put this back until the next morning) The station 
attitude con trols system is working well, using the girodynes, and the power 
STH (?)  the base block and module Kvant 2 powered (ai rlock and toilet) with 
modules Kristall and Priroda unpowered. 
                                                       -2-
                                                       
                                                       -2-
Greenhouse experiment is continuing, using power from the base block, to dry 
the seed pods that have formed quite nicel y.'
After collision day: Our packet pwr supply failed, and we had to rewire the 
equipment to a newer one. All previous msgs
 here were lost. TNC Paccomm nolonger holds its parameters, if pwr is turned 
off, since the Progress collision.    Mike , KB5UAC.'
And today: 'The crew is now extremely busy, trying to crawl through all the 
bags unloaded from Progress, which are now stored in dark, wet modules, which 
have no power. We are trying to inventory and assemble the 30 or so cables 
and adapt , required to install the hatch umbilical. 
                     A training run will be done on the 15th and the real eva 
sometime after that. I will get some refr esher training on preparing the 
soyuz for evacuation, and will be in a spacesuit, b, in the Soyuz during the 
eva itself .'
Foale: During the period just after the collision Foale had his quarters in 
the P.Kh.O. (transitionsection). This P.Kh. O. will serve as airlock during 
the IVA and so Foale had to remove.  He is now living in the module Kvant-2 
(Module-D),
 which certainly will be more comfortable than the P.Kh.O. 
Attitude control: During this week the gyrodynes did not function 
continuously: sometimes all of them of just 1 were sp inned down for 
powerconservation and in these periods for attitude control the small 
thruster jets of MIR and (now) the
 Progress-M35 are used. 
Chris Vandenberg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
 
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