MIRNEWS.401    2 JANUARY 1998

Dear readers and users of my MIRNEWS-es: I wish you and your family a
Happy and Prosperous New Year and a lot of joy and successes in our
mutual field of interest.

MIR-routine:

In the period after the last MIRNEWS the situation on board MIR was far
from easy. After the freon leak the A.C. (BKV-3) remained switched
off and the dehumidification of MIR's atmosphere was not sufficient. To
gather at least 2.5 liters of the normal 4 liters of condensation the
condensation regenerator in the Life Compartiment of Soyuz-TM26 was
activated. In cold areas of the complex there is an enormous
condensation. This condensation is almost reaching dangerous levels. To
obtain sufficient water from condensation the Life Compartment of S-TM26
had to be cooled down. In this period the Elektrons did not work due to
repair work and so Lithium Perchlorate cartridges had to be burnt for
oxygen production. The cosmonauts accomplished the repair of the Vozdukh
(CO2 scrubber) in the Base Block and as of 2.1.98 this system works and
helps a little bit to remove water-vapour to open space. There is also a
lot of condensation in the cold Progress-M37 and the crew deployed an
air-hose to blow cool air from there into the Base Block. In the period
between 27 and 30.12.97 MIR remained continuously in full sunlight and
the temperatures in the Base Block reached values above 30 dgs C. The
cosmonauts did not complain about these inconvience and David Wolf even
stated that he likes high temperatures which give him more energy.

Failuring Main Computer and Movements control system:

In the night from 1 to 2.01.1998 the SUD (movementscontrol) gave an alarm
and the Ts.V.M.-1 switched itself off. The cause was still unclear at
deadline of this report. TsUP even thought that a virus played a part in
that. After a virusscan TsUP said there had not been a virus. The
cosmonauts recently had checked the Ts.V.M.-1 with an anti-virus program
of Nov. 97 and they did not find anything. During passes in the morning
of 2.1.98 TsUP asked the cosmonauts to suspend all activities and wait
for further instructions. TsUP tried to use Telemetry for analysis, but
they only got incomprehensible data. The solarbatteries do not get the
full sunshine and the cosmonauts had to switch the lights out and use
electric torches. For today the repair work on the Elektrons has been
cancelled.

Spacewalks (EVA-s):

The first EVA (Solovyov and Vinogradov) is scheduled for 8.01.98 from
2320UTC (opening hatch between Scientific and instrument compartment and
Airlock of Module-D). This EVA will last appr. 5hrs 30 mins. If
Solovyov and Vinogradov during that EVA accomplished the repair of the
hatch of the air-lock the second EVA (Solovyov and Wolf) might take
place on 14.01.98 from 2040UTC (opening hatch of air-lock of module-D.)
Duration appr. 2 hrs.

Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.