MIRNEWS.375                                          6 AUGUST 1997
Soyuz-TM26: The perfect launch took place on 5.08.1997 at 15.35.59UTC. On 
board the crew for the 24th Main Exp. to MIR,
  Anatoliy Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov . Call sign: Rodniki, so Rodnik-1 
and Rodnik-2. During the first pass in orb. 2 (1838-1841UTC) very weak 
signals on beacon- and telephony frequencies.  During the pass in orb. 3 
(2007-2011UTC) very
 good reception on all frequencies.  Solovyov could be heard in a 
conversation with TsUP. He reported a technical anoma ly in the BO 
(lifecompartment): a hose (or: tube) was not connected to an air purification 
unit, which caused an increa sed amount of CO2 in the mini-atmosphere on 
board. He told TsUP that he had connected that hose immediately and that th e 
system was functioning normally.  Again good signals in the window in orb. 4 
(2138-2147UTC) during which Solovyev rep eated his report about that hose. 
MIR:  During the passes in the evening of 4.08.1997 the crew reported that 
they were working on the malfunctioning Elek tron oxygen generator in 
Kvant-1.  (The Elektron in Kvant-2 is not operational due to power 
shortages). During a long c ommunication session  via Altair-2 in the morning 
of 5.08.1997 the crew was still coordinating the repair work on the E 
lektron. After the departure of Progress-M35 for a 10 day lasting autonomous 
flight lithium perchlorate cartridges have
 to be used for the production  of oxygen.  This will be not very convenient 
during the period in which 5 men are on bo ard (7-14.08.97).
An eventual delay of the S-TM26 launch due to the problems with the Elektrons 
has not been taken into consideration. 
In MIRNEWS.374 I gave an estimated time for the docking of S-TM26  on 7.08.97 
as 1723UTC.  In that report I remarked th at this time considerably deviated 
from the normal routine: dockings a few minutes after LOS of the first pass 
of both objects for our position. Inquiries in the Ballistic  Section of the 
Keldysh institute of the R.A.N. learned that  ther e had been a misprint in a 
Russian message about the estimated docking time. The estimated dockingtime 
is: 07.08.97 at 1703UTC, so in accordance with the  normal routine.
The supply ship Progress-M35 has to free the docking port (+X-axis) for the 
arrival of the S-TM26 and will do this on 6 .08.97 at 1144UTC. The autonomous 
flight of Pr-M35 will last until 16.08.97.  On that day Pr-M35 will dock (in 
the auto matic regime with the system Kurs) at the same docking port after 
the redocking of S-TM26 to the forward (-X-axis) the day before.      
Chris Vandenberg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
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