MIRNEWS.395                            17 NOVEMBER 1997       
MIR routine:   Last week the cosmonauts repaired heating- and coolingloops, 
the S.R.V.-U, (system for regeneration of  water  -for technical purposes- 
from urine) and they deployed and connected cables for the new installed 
solar panel. S olovyov regularly reported that the solar panel which could 
not be aimed to the sun automatically reacted well on manua l commands and 
every time achieved a good angle towards the sun. 
David Wolf: Due to the problems with the airlock (S.Sh.O.) of Module-D David 
cannot sleep in module-D's P.N.O. (Instrum ent- and science compartment).  He 
moved to the Kristall module.  His new 'room' is also in use for the stowage 
of food boxes,  bags and other cargo. He has not enough time to do all his 
experiments and often his working day ends just befo re he goes to bed.  He 
told his American friends in TsUP that there is a great difference between 
the time needed for w ork and experiments in space and the time for the same 
activities on earth.  Interruptions during his work, for instanc e lunches, 
physical exercises,  comm. sessions, replacing and moving things,  sometimes 
triple the scheduled time for t hat work.  His friend on earth promised to do 
something to  enlighten his workload and to extend his possibilities to d o 
physical exercises.  These exercises are badly needed to build up the  
condition of David who will participate in an EVA in early December. 
Leakage hatch airlock Module-D (Sh.S.O): After pressurizing the airlock 20 mm 
mercury was lost in 3 days. After an EVA in 1990 (made by Solovyov and 
Balandin) a support of this hatch was  bent  and later on repaired, but the 
hatch had alw ays to be secured by extra clamps.  (After his EVA  on 
6.09.1997 Foale had to close that hatch and to install these cla mps or 
latches.  Russian word: fiksatory.)
During daylight in the U.S.A. on 13.11.1997 David used the Altair-2 
facilities to tell his compatriots about his life o n board MIR. While one of 
his crewmates accompanied him with a video camera David went to his 
laboratory and gave an ex planation about the instruments and experiments 
over there.  He showed a monitor with  laser images of the surfaces of 
crystalls which had been cultivated in space. He told that the data of the 
experiments are transmitted to experts on ea rth, who draw conclusions and 
give additonal instructions for this work.  He showed instruments which are 
connected to sensors at the outersurface of the station for the measurement 
of all kinds of radiation from  space.  David emphasized
 that the station, just like the shuttles, is very clean. 
After his demonstration he addressed himself to a meeting of a Jewish 
federation in Indianapolis. He told that they fle w over Israel an hour or so 
ago and contradictory to  most other countries the borders of Israel are 
clearly visible  f rom space. He wished the people over there a successful 
meeting,  he regretted the fact that he was not able to partici pate and 
stressed that he very much appreciated what the federation was doing for 
mankind. 
On 13 as well as on 14.11.1997 the day began with a rotation of the complex 
for an optimal sun angle of the solarpanels .  On 14.11. the crew tested the 
new installed solarpanel on Kvant-1 (Module-E).  During this test the power 
supply in the Base Block failed. So did the S.U.D. (movements control system) 
in the B.B. and the gyrodynes spinned down. 
Consequently other systems had to be switched off: for instance the Elektron 
(oxygen generator) and the Vozdukh (CO2 fi lter).  The oxygen level in MIR 
gave no concern and so the burning of lithium perchloride cartridges was not 
needed.  T o reduce the CO2 level purification cartridges were used.
Experiments: David had to interrupt his experimental work temporarily. 
The first measure to restore   power supply in the Base Block was to replace 
the exhausted accumulator batteries by ful ly loaded ones from the Kristall 
module. 
Solovyov and Vinogradov kept watch in the nights from 14 to 15 and 15 to 
16.11.   In the early morning hours of 15.11 t he crew (or some of them) were 
in the Soyuz-TM26 and used the transceiver of that ship on 121.750 mc. 
Gradually the station soaked up enough energy and most of the systems could 
be reactivated in the course of 16.11.1997.
  The SUD was working again and all gyrodynes were spinning. 
Main task  in  week from 17.11.97:   The installation of the new Vozdukh (CO2 
scrubber) in the Base Block. 
  
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
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