MIRNEWS.406                                                    9 FEBRUARY 
98
Failure attitude control system:   on 4.02.1998 during MIR's pass in orbit 
68334, 1848-1856UTC, Solovyov reported that at 1831UTC  he had got the 
warning: Check the SUD and that the complex was now  in the so called 
'Indikatornyy Rezhim' 
 meaning that  MIR   was  flying in the 'free drift'.     Due to the fact 
that  time was running out he asked for advic e from TsUP.  TsUP asked for 
'format' and 'regime'. S. gave Format 1, Indicated regime,    operation 
rotation.  The gyr odynes were still spinning and the Ts.V.M.-1 (Main 
computer) remained operational.  They shifted to the regime of 'redu ced 
power consumption' and among the systems which had to be  switched off were 
both  Elektron oxygen generators. 
During the radiotraffic about this SUD failure Solovyov also mentioned  the 
VDU.  The VDU is the external thruster in t he Sofora boom. Possibly the 
failure had been caused by a wrong command in which the VDU was involved. For 
the last tim e the VDU was used to control attitude during the beginning of 
the combined flight of MIR and Endeavour.  The VDU almos t ran out of fuel 
and will be replaced in the near future.
Due to the fact that the Ts.V.M.-1  remained operational and the gyrodynes 
did not stop spinning the  problem with the SUD could be solved  already in 
the evening of 4.02.98  and did not have a negative effect on the present 
mission. 
On 5.02.1998 Altair-2 could be used for communications. Normally a serious 
attitude problem makes the use of that facil ity impossible.  Leopold Eyharts 
gave a long TV-interview in which he   reported  with enthousiasm about his 
mission.  
Also the following days Altair-2 was regularly in use for communications and 
TV-sessions, for instance with the press, family and friends. In one of the 
sessions Vinogradov showed a lot of systems and explained their functions. 
The mood a mong the 4 cosmonauts, 1 astronaut and 1 spationaute is excellent. 
 There is a  lot of joy and they do not complain abo ut their modest housing. 
A good example of international cooperation. Thusfar Solovyov is still in 
command and he and Vinogradov are responsible for a number of repairs and for 
a good funct ioning of the life support systems. 
Now and then Andy Thomas can be heard when he is in contact with his lead at 
TsUP in English.   I did not  yet hear him
 speaking Russian.
Soyuz-TM26: The return of this ship with the crew of the 24th Main Expedition 
(Solovyov and Vinogradov) and the CNES sp ationaute is scheduled for 
19.02.1998. 
That day the hatch between the departing men will be closed between 0240 and 
0252UTC.   S-TM26 will separate from  MIR between 0553 and 0604UTC. 
The landing is planned for 0917UTC. 
Data and times of the operations with S-TM27 (redocking) and the Progress-M37 
(return to the complex after the autonomo us flight and docking at the aft 
port) still have to be determined.  
  
 C.M. van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202. 
 
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