.MIRNEWS.394                                             6 NOVEMBER 1997
5th Spacewalk (EVA) crew  24th Main Expedition MIR:
After the return in the Sh.S.O. (airlock Module-D) during the 4th EVA it 
lasted a very long time before the cosmonauts could put off their spacesuits. 
A failure made it impossible to pressurize the airlock.  The cosmonauts 
opened the hatc h again to see whether something was wrong with the gasket of 
the outer ring of the hatch. This did not help and they d ecided to use the 
nearest compartment (the P.N.O., instrument- and scientific compartment) as 
airlock. Solovyov did thi s before: in 1990 due to a damage of the hatch. 
The Russians decided not to put back the 5th EVA, but to use the P.N.O.  as 
airlock.   The crew had to work hard during
 the days between the EVA's: they had to study and train for the new 
scenario,  to repair the telemetry unit of Solovyo v's spacesuit , to install 
a valve inside the Base Block for the installation of a second Vozdukh CO2 
scrubber and to p repare themselves for the EVA.  
During the depress of the P.N.O. and the Sh.S.O. the crew tried to discover 
the cause of the pressure failure.  The EVA -hatch swung open on 6.11.97 at 
00.12.39UTC and closed behind the cosmonauts at 06.24.46UTC. These moments 
could be mon itored due to the extensive use of the geostationairy Altair-2 
during this EVA. 
Wolf stayed inside and he took care for the camera work and the 
communications. He gave the commands  to establish a vi deo-link via Altair-2 
 and he pushed the buttons of the electric remote control during the 
deployment of the new instal led solar panel. 
The first activity of Solovyov and Vingradov was to transfer the new solar 
panel from the SO (docking compartment Krist all) to the Kvant-1. They 
installed the solar panel over there and connected the cables. They tried to 
unfold the panel , but  part of the clamps between the sectors of it did not 
react on the commands given by Wolf. So Solovyov and Vinogr adov had to do 
some push and pull work and this helped. So the new solar battery can be 
inserted into the structure of the S.E.P. -the Power Supply System- of the 
station. 
After removing the cap from the outlet for the Vozdukh valve, which they had 
installed during the 4th EVA, they returne d to the airlock. Back in the 
airlock Vinogradov inspected the rubber gasket on the outer ring of the hatch 
and he disc overed some minor iniquities. While closing the hatch he stated 
that the mechanism did not react smoothly.  The indicator 'hatch closed' was 
positive.  The crew closed the hatch between the Sh.S.O. and the P.N.O. and 
used the l ast compartment as airlock.  The pressure in the Sh.S.O. was 209 
mm mercury.  In 2 days the crew will check whether thi s pressure decreased 
or not.   After the EVA the pressure in the rest of the complex was 637 mm 
mercury. 
Communications: Altair-2 was in use during all windows.  During direct VHF 
passes the frequency 143.618 mc was used sim ultanuously with strong 
interference by cross-modulation by an airtraffic control station.  
Chris Vandenberg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
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