MIRNEWS.357    29 APRIL 1997

1st Spacewalk (EVA) MIR 23/NASA 4:

This EVA passed of successfully and without problems. Tsibliyev and
Linenger opened the hatch of the airlock of Kvant-2 on 29.04.1997 at
0510UTC and closed this after the EVA at 10.08.30UTC. Duration: 4 hrs 57
mins and 10 secs. The cause of the slight delay is still unknown. The
fact that the EVA lasted much shorter than the planned 5 hrs 30 mins was
no indication that they had been forced to return earlier but they just
accomplished their tasks well within the duration which had been
foreseen. These tasks consisted of the installation of the OPM (Optical
Properties Monitor) at the outersurface of the SO (dockingcompartment at
the Kristall module). Having this done they moved by the crane Strela to
the Kvant-2 where they retrieved the American experiments PIE (Partial
Impact Expt) and the MSE (Mir Sample Expt). These experiments will be
brought back to earth by the Atlantis in May this year. The last task was
the installation on Kvant-2 of the Benton Radiation Dosimeter. This
instrument will measure the intensity of the radiation between 51.6 dgs
North and 51.6 dgs South. The areas between these latitudes will be
covered by the IRS, which will orbit in the same inclination (51.6 dgs)
as MIR. During the first pass for our location in orbit 63941 (0958-1010UTC)
the EVA was in its final phase. The both 'spacewalkers' already
were in the airlock, which they had entered at 0930UTC. During
radiowindows they worked with tranquillizing music in the background.
Radiotraffic revealed that Tsibliyev and Linenger had a lot of fun and
acted fully relaxed. The EVA was successful and they did not meet any
problems. The new type of the Orlan DMA spacesuit was used for the first
time and during the pass in orbit 63942 (1133-1145UTC) Tsibliyev reported
his satisfaction about the improvements. He told that his good experience
with this spacesuit during trainings in the hydrolab now has been proven
in practice. The suit is very flexible, and especially the gloves are
very good: it is much easier to use your fingers. And Tsibliyev has the
right to judge this for he did 5 EVA's during his mission in 1993. During
the EVA Lazutkin remained on board where he watched the systems, made
films of his colleagues, helped them with advices and communications. If
the present good luck of the MIR exploration will not vanish Lazutkin
will do 2 EVA's together with Tsibliyev during this MIR 23d Main
expedition.

Admiration:

All those responsible for the achievements of today: the crew, but also
the flight control and consultative groups in Korolyov and Houston
deserve our admiration for the way in which they showed their skill and
this example of excellent international cooperation. They had the courage
to execute this difficult operation just a week after a long period in
which the operational life of the MIR spacestation was hanging by a
thread. Let us entrust the work on future space flight projects in their
hands!

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