MIRNEWS.318    30 JULY 1996

Progress-M32:

The launch of this freighter is now on schedule
for 31.07.1996 at 20.00.04 UTC (For Moscow
summertime 4 seconds after midnight on 1.08.96).
The decision to give the green light for this launch
has been taken on 29.07.1996 during a meeting of the
statecommittee. The first attempt to launch the Pr-M32
failed due to a tank pressurization problem. During the
inspection afterwards a problem was revealed in one of
the engines of a booster. The possibility to change that
engine has been considered but finally the decision was
taken to replace the whole booster.

If all goes according to plan we might be able to
hear the signals of the beacon- and telemetrytransmitters
of Pr-M32 at abt. 3 hrs after launch in the 922, 166 and
165 mc bands.

The estimated docking time of Pr-M32 at MIR:
2.08.1996 at abt. 2159UTC.

Soyuz-TM24:

The launch of this ship with the releaf crew
and the French spacionaute is now on schedule for
20.08.1996. We hope to get an eventual confirmation or
additional information by CNES during this week.

Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.