MIRNEWS.421 11 MAY 1998 BDD: On 30.04.1998 Altair-2 was used for the last time for experiments in the framework of the BDD (Betriebstechnik Deutschland Direkt). The participants (the MIR crew and the team in Oberpfaffenhofen) obviously struggled with some software problems and the system is not ready yet. Fortunately the manoeuvres with the Altair-2 antennae (towards Oberpfaffenhofen and back to Moscow) had no consequences for the performance of Altair-2. Afterwards Altair-2 often has been used for phone- and TV-communications. VDU: This new external thruster has been fully implemented in the attitude control of the MIR-complex. When the gyrodynes have to be reset to their initial settings, the VDU takes over the control of the roll (movements around the X-axis). The fact that the VDU has been used could be derived from radiotraffic. When the cosmonauts load a quaternion command the VDU will be used. (Quaternion is the coefficient of 2 vectors) BKV-3: This a.c. is not always obedient. Many times the cosmonauts had to switch off the BVK-3 after switching on. MIR-routine: Apart from dealing with technical problems of the life support systems, for instance the overheating of a heat circuit, causing the melting down of pieces of pipes and small leakages in the SRVK (system for water regeneration from condensation), the crew was able to go on with some experiments. During a TV-session for a Russian radio program on 7.02.1998, the cosmonauts demonstrated their work on a Russian-American metal melting experiment with the Optizon furnace and how carefully they had to handle the loading of experimental ampoules into that furnace. During this session they put 9 of those ampoules into the furnace. Answering questions about spacewalks (EVA-s) Musabayev confirms something which I reported in my MIRNEWS.415. (Thusfar I did not find any official confirmation or reference on this matter). He acknowledges that during his 1st EVA he had switched off by accident the power supply of this spacesuit resulting in the malfunction of all systems in that suit: no cooling or heating, no circulation, no communications.. This unpleasant situation lasted no more than 20 seconds but for him and those observing his activities this seemed to last ages. During a TV-session with family and friends on 3.05.1998 Musabayev asked them to tell the management that all is well on board and that they could skip all the nonsense reported by amateurs about bad situations on board. On 7.05.1998 during a session for a Russian radio program Musabayev gave his personal opinion about the significance of the Denj Pobedy. (Victory Day). He presented himself as commander of the Russian space station MIR, emphasizing that his nationality was Kazakh so coming from one of the countries which in the past belonged to the Soviet Union, a country now being one of the nearby abroad. Nevertheless he was proud of that what his former countrymen achieved in World War 2 and he even memorized the famous Panfilov division. In an admirable way he associated some facts: by this victory the Soviet people paved the way for the launches of the first Sputnik and the Russian Yuriy Gagarin. In fact this victory was completed by the meeting of Soviet and American troops at the river Elbe. In this respect he remarks the present cooperation between Russians and Americans on board of spacestation MIR, emphasizing that cooperation in such a way between peoples is a condition for a safe and everlasting peace. He, with his Kazakh nationality, is commander of the Russian space station MIR in a good and fruitful cooperation with a Russian on board engineer and an American astronaut. So this mission is in the benefit of mankind and so the work on board of the future International Space Station will be. Forest fires: For us on Earth astronauts and cosmonauts regularly observe how badly mankind treats our blue planet. They often express their disturbance and alarm about what they see. These observations cannot be compared with findings via unmanned satellites. On 8.05.1998 Andrew Thomas asks his lead in TsUP Moscow to pass a report to the appropriate people in the United States about heavy fires all over Yucatan and Honduras. This peninsular area is so covered up by smoke that it is impossible to distinguish the coast lines and contours of the countries over there. He underlines that he never in his life had seen smoke with such an intensity and that it is amazing that the people over there are fully burning down their countries. Progress-M38: In preparation for the departure and decay of the Progress-M38 in the evening of 16.05.1998 the cosmonauts stow as much garbage and useless goods and equipment in this old freighter. In fact this freighter is not fully suited for that purpose due to the modification necessary for the delivery of the new VDU thruster. Tsup has sent a list with instructions for the stowage, but the cosmonauts want to add a lot more: bags with used underwear and rags, containers with human waste, empty oxygen balloons of spacesuits, they even still have to get rid of remnants from previous expeditions. The man at TsUP is not authorized to give permission to do that, for there are plans to do some manoeuvres with Pr-M38 after undocking and before decay. In fact the crew has to observe these manoeuvres visually. The cosmonauts say that this is always difficult, such slight movements of some degrees are difficult to observe and often the freighter quickly disappears over the horizon. Progress-M39: The launch from Baykonur is scheduled for 14.05.1998 at 2212UTC. If all goes according to plan Pr-M39 has to dock at MIR on 16.05.1998 at about 2350UT, so approx. 6 minutes after our LOS (Loss of signal) behind the eastern horizon for both objects. Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.