MIRNEWS.371                                     20 JULY 1997
Cable trouble: By accident one member of the MIR crew disconnected a cable 
connection between a rate-sensor in Module K ristall and the SUD (attitude 
control computer), which caused a troublesome chain reaction of system 
failures. Among th e systems which did not work anymore were also 
transmitters in the baseblock, the UKW-1 transceiver and Telemetry trans 
ceivers.  So for communications, but also for an alternative attitude control 
the crew had to use the systems of the fu lly autonomous Soyuz-TM25. During 
the nighthours I use to record transmissions using a timeswitch. In the 
morning I did
 not find anything on my tape and during the pass in orbit 65171, 
0548-0559UTC, the 143.625, 145.985 and the 166/165 mc
 telemetry transmitters did not show any sign of life. I checked whether they 
used Altair-2 or not: again negative. A f ew minutes after the pass Geoff 
Perry told me that he had heard them on 121.750 mc.  During the next pass 
they still us ed the 121.750 mc during which Geoff Perry heard them laughing 
in reaction on that what TsUP had said.  The first pass in which the 143.625 
mc was in use again was during orbit 65173 at 0900UTC. Tsibliyev reported 
that there has been some
 recharging of the accumulators again and consequently they had switched on 
some systems, i.e. the UKW-1 transmitter an d Telemetry transceivers. 
In the early morning of 18.07 I was on duty during the nightly passes. During 
2 of them (in orb. 65184 and 65185) all s ervice frequencies remained silent, 
but I had a hope that conditions had improved for on 145.985 mc there were 
Packet R adio bursts again. During the pass in orb. 65186 Tsibliyev kept 
watch in the Base Block and he confirmed that the situa tion was better than 
the day before. His 2 colleagues still slept which they badly needed because 
of the fact, as Tsibl iyev stated, they had to endure so much during the last 
days.  During the passes still to follow he also slept and the only sign of 
life was the continuous rattle of Packet Radio.  My oscilloscope did not give 
any indication that Altair-2 's downlink was active. 
VHF:  The first windows in which VHF-traffic could be monitored here before  
the early morning hours of 19.07 and as my
 body was longing for a good night's rest I adjusted my timeswitch so that 
during all windows a recorder was active. An d of course this time not only  
for the 143.625 , but also for the 121.750 mc. After a night in which I slept 
like a lo g I found a recording of the transmissions on 143.625 mc during the 
first pass in orb. 65199 (0045UTC). Lazutkin had th e middle watch in the 
Base Block and he reported good results of the recharging of accumulators and 
the fact that there
 was GSO-1 (gyro stabilized orientation), a very slow rotation and the 
complex flew on one side. Later on Lazutkin was in his couch and only the 
Packet Radio and Telemetry transmitters were active. 
 
Altair-2: During orbit 65203 Altair-2 showed up again.  A signal on 10.825 
GHz and on the monitor images of floating co smonauts,  the interior of the 
Base Block and now and then a glimpse of the damaged Spektr. Also phone in 
which Foale t old that he has to use a list with things he needs for the IVA 
and components for the Orlan-DMA suit. This list in Russ ian and he asks for 
English translation to make it easier for him  in contacts with American 
experts during trainings f or the IVA and  the IVA itself.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
--- Maximus 2.01
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