MIRNEWS.365    28 JUNE 1997

Radiotraffic after collision Progress-M34 with MIR.

On 25.06.1997 during the first pass of the daily sequence (orb. 64831,
1049-1054UTC) it was obvious that something went terribly wrong.

If the redocking would have been a success this should have been obvious
during this traffic. No word about the Pr-M34. The only subjects about
which the crew spoke with TsUP were the systems on board MIR. In the
first place they had problems with the SUD (attitude control) and
something had happened with a module. TsUP transmitted a long series of
4-digitgroups and the crew got orders to record and to collate them
('kvitantsiya').

In the next pass (orb. 64832, 1223-1232UTC) reports about serious
problems indicating that the complex had suffered from a heavy blow. An
emergency signal warned that the power supply was too low (tension too
low), that storage accumulators could not be charged and that the
attitude of the complex had been changed and flew on its side. One or
more of the 5 still available solararrays could not be adjusted for a
good angle towards the sun. Tsibliyev reported that they were unable to
change this and that the complex had a movement along the X-axis.

The crew got orders to activate the direct TV-link (commands Anna-72 and
Anna-86) and to send images. Mike Foale made this images with a camera.
(These images could be seen all over the world during the rest of the
day). Very alarming was that what the crew reported during the 3d pass
(orbit 64833, 1359-1409UTC). Those solarpanels which were still
available could not be adjusted via computercommands, but this had to be
done manually by the cosmonauts. The gyrodynes did not work any more,
the electrical tension was too low and the Ts.V.M.-1 (the main computer)
ceased to function. The SUD failed and this was also the case with such
a system in Module-D. After reporting all these calamaties Tsibliyev
stated that the situation was very bad. A number of ventilators did not
work and the crew was grateful about the fact that the ventilators in
Module-D functioned normally. The fact that the gyrodynes stopped and
did not consume power anymore decreased the burden on the powersupply.

After a long discussion about the powerproblems the crew got permission
to adjust the solarpanels of Module-D manually for a better angle towards
the sun. In the background the voice of the veteran cosmonaut Vladimir
Solovyov, Head of Flightcontrol, could be heard. As much as necessary the
crew could use the Soyuz-TM25 and in case of a failure of the
communications from the Baseblock they could use the transceiver of that
ship. The traffic during the 4th pass (orb. 68434, 1535-1546UTC) began
with the cheerful voice of Foale asking Tsibliyev how he felt himself.
Tsibliyev said that he was very tired and suffered from strain caused by
the event. Before LOS TsUP gave the windows for communications via the
groundfacilities of Oberpfaffenhofen, Dryden en Wallops in the coming
night.

There was also good news: Foale reported that the amount fo CO2 in the
air was so low that the CO2 scrubber Vozdukh was not needed. An
inconvenience was the fact that the alarmlight : 'Depressurization of the
complex' was burning continuously and that reset was impossible while
the mano-vacuummeters indicated that the pressure remained stable (692
mm). uring a following pass Tsibliyev said that he understood that the
launch of the Progress-M35 had been put back. TsUP confirmed this. (to
be continued)

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