MIRNEWS.276 19 OCTOBER 1995 Spacewalk (EVA) on 20.10.1995: During the last weeks the crew on board MIR have been busy with preparations for that EVA. They trained and checked spacesuits and systems. On 18.10 they concluded this work. The EVA has to begin at 1155UTC (opening of the hatch) until 1740UTC (closure of the hatch). So longer than announced in ESA publications (3 or 4 hours). The EVA will be done by Reiter and Avdeyev. Reiter will be the first to leave the complex. For the communications the Russians will use a number of groundstations and the geostationary Altair. Four Altair windows (between 1022-1610UTC) will be utilized before and during the EVA. During the first pass of MIR for this region (orbit 55236, 1649UTC) there might be some traffic regarding the EVA on the frequencies 143.625 and 130.165 mc. During 2 long sessions on 18 and 19.10 via Altair among which press- conferences dedicated to the meeting of ESA-ministers in Toulouse, the crew paid attention to the oncoming EVA. Reiter showed images of the exit-hatch and Gidzenko showed images of the bag with material to be used and installed during the EVA. The lever (crane) Strela, guided by Avdeyev, will bring Reiter to the outersurface of the Spektr module. Believe me: not an easy job! Everybody is optimistic for Avdeyev has a record of 4 EVA's made during his flight in 1991/92. MIR-mission extended. Reason for this extension is the fact that the factory in Samara building the Soyuz-rocket for the launch of the relief crew is not able to deliver this rocket in the beginning of January 1996 without overtime for its staff. This overtime had to be paid with money from the budget for the Russian national spaceprogram. The Russian space agency refused to pay this. MIR's Main Expedition 20 and Euromir95 had to be extended by 44 days. From the TV-sessions mentioned above I could derive the fact that nobody has objections against this prolongation: Thomas Reiter is pleased that he can remain in space longer and so do his crewmates and even Frau Reiter agreed. ESA gets this prolongation for a bargain price compared with the prices former foreign guestcosmonauts had to pay for a short flight. Now there is time enough to execute the Euromir95 program and to do a lot more. For instance ESA and the Russians decided to insert a 2d EVA. Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.