MIRNEWS.417    12 APRIL 1998

3rd Spacewalk (EVA) crew 25th Main Expedition MIR:

This EVA took place on 11.04.1998 from 0955-1620UTC, so with a duration of 6
hrs and 25 mins. Everything went according to plan. A piece of good luck on the
eve of the celebration of the Day of Manned Spaceflight. The cosmonauts started
the EVA with the utmost confidence and favourable circumstances. They could
rely on the use of Altair-2 for communications. If it would be necessary to
reset the gyrodynes, thrusters of the Priroda module could be used for attitude
control.

During orbit 69360 the cosmonauts were in the air-lock preparing the opening of
the hatch. At 0918UTC the pressure was 9 mm and Budarin was loosening the locks
of the exit hatch. The communications window closed at 0927UTC. At 0955UTC, so
out of range of Altair-2, the cosmonauts opened the hatch and started the
successful operation. When the Altair-2 window opened at 1015UTC they already
had covered a considerable distance and reached positions not far from the
Sofora girder. Musabayev continuously advised Budarin about his movements and
how he had to steer the Strela boom, but also warned him for obstacles, for
instance solarpanels. Musabayev did not forget Andy Thomas who was on duty
inside MIR. He asked him whether he was seeing them or not and told him to make
videos and photos. A minor glitch was the bad performance of Budarins receiver,
but he solved this problem by using his back-up system. Sometimes the
cosmonauts had to unwrap safety lines and cables, but this did not hamper the
progress of the EVA. Their mood was excellent and they even had time to enjoy
the good sight of the Sahara and other territories on earth.

At 1225UTC (in orbit 69362) it was clear that they almost achieved the main
goal of the EVA: dismantling and pushing away the old VDU (the external
thruster in the top of the Sofora boom). At 1227UTC Musabayev told Andy that he
had to be ready to observe and film a very special event: the launch into open
space of the VDU. Don't go away during the next 5 minutes. It lasted somewhat
longer before TsUP gave permission for the actual push as they had to be sure
that all cables and safety lines were disconnected. Exactly at 1235UTC this
permission came and Musabayev told Andy at 12.35.20UTC: we push him away, 1, 2,
3, 4 Do you see him moving away? For a while Andy could see the jettisoned VDU,
but was not able to keep the leaving VDU in sight somewhat longer. Musabayev
did not like this and did not hide that verbally. Let us hope that Andy neither
heard nor understood this.

The plan for this EVA foresaw in a second launch. After removing for retrieval
of an experiment (an indicator) from the Rapana structure they had to dismantle
this structure and dispatch it into open space. I did not hear anything of this
second launch during communication windows. Later on it became clear that this
plan had been cancelled . The cosmonauts also repaired an outlet valve of the
Elektron oxygen generator in Module E (Kvant-1).

The old VDU is in orbit as an autonomous satellite and will decay, possibly in
a year or so.

Now and then TsUP recommended the cosmonauts to return in time and finally they
got an order to return to the air-lock. This part of the operation, again with
the instructions of Musabayev for Budarin and the repressurisation of the air-
lock took place relatively quickly and without problems.

Not long after their return inside MIR the cosmonauts transmitted a part of the
videos made by Andy during the EVA and also the launch of the VDU.

As long as the new VDU is not operational the control of the roll will be done
by steering rockets of the Priroda module.

The next 2 EVA's are scheduled for 17 and 22.04.1998. Times will be published
on 14.04.1998.

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