MIRNEWS.430    7 JULY 1998

Operations:

For a while Russian manned spaceflight can remain on firm ground.
The Russian government somehow and somewhere found financial means to
continue the exploitation of MIR until July 1999. A few days ago the launch of
the Soyuz-TM28 with the crew for MIR's ME 26 and the politician Baturin was
still in jeopardy. A part of the promised money has to be used for the launch
of 4 or 5 Progress-M freighters for the operations and to achieve a 'safe'
decay of MIR in the second half of 1999 and 3 Soyuz-TM ships for the next
expeditions including the visit of a French spationaut and a Slovak kosmonaut.
If the Frenchman and the Slovak will go together, only 2 Soyuz-TM ships are
needed. If so the Board engineer of ME 26, Avdeyev will have to stay on board
and continue as a member of the ME 27 crew. This was done before: in 1991 and
1992 when Krikalyov came as a member of ME 9 and stayed during ME 10 which was
necessary due to the combined Austrian and Kazak flight (Viebock and
Aubakirov).

Soyuz-TM28:

At deadline of this report the launch date of S-TM28 with the
relief crew and the Baturin was not sure. On 6.07.98 there was word that S-
TM28's start might take place on 11.08.1998, but on day later 13.08.98 emerged
as an option. Further delays have to be avoided for the garantee period for S-
TM27, the return ship for the present crew expires by 25.08.1998.
 
MIR-routine:

Musabayev and Budarin continued to execute experiments with the
furnaces Gallar, Optizon and even Kristall. They also worked on experiments
installed in the Priroda, for instance Alisa and did a lot of medical
experiments among which studies their cardiovascular system. Musabayev
regularly states that he does not agree with the planning for their activities.
In his opinion it is impossible to use the time-lines (cyclograms) drafted by
experts on earth for the work in MIR. Sometimes there are overlapping
periods and then there is no time to begin another experiment or task. He also
often critizices unclear radiograms which often contain contradictory
instructions or advices. He often repeats his opinion that the experts on
earth do not listen to the complaints of the crew. When he reports that he is
not pleased, he often adds: This is an official report of the commander. More
than once he asked TsUP if Ryumin has already visited them or not. Ryumin
promised the crew that he would pass his negative findings during his
inspection of the complex to the flight controllers. Obviously Ryumin did not
redeem his promise thusfar. Ryumin, who flew twice on board of space station
Salyut-6 had no idea whatsoever how difficult life and work on board of MIR
would be.

On 7.07.1998 the crew got orders to do something which they did not expect at
all. They had to check and prepare the spacesuits, which have to be used by the
crew of the 26th ME to MIR during one or more EVA's (spacewalks). Musabayev
asked TsUP why they are so solicitous about the next crew. They did not show
that before Musabayev and Budarin arrived in MIR. Solovyov and Vinogradov
did not have to do anything with the spacesuits which had to be used by M. and
B. M. also states that a crew has to take care off their own spacesuits,
furthermore they did get training for those activities. This extra work also
means an overload on their schedule. But he concluded with the promise that
they reluctantly would perform this task.

In the early morning hours of 7.07.1998 (0047, 0218 and 0250UTC) there were a
smoke alarms. There was no fire or smoke at all and the crew said that the
smoke sensors had to be replaced. To their astonishment they found out that
during the long exploitation of MIR in fact a period of twelve and a half year
these devices never had been replaced. So again an extra urgent task: the
replacement of the smoke sensors.

I want to make it clear that Musabayev is not a surly fellow. He is an
optimist, has a good sense for humor and likes to laugh a lot. He can be very
upset for which he has a good reason, and somewhat later he fully cheers up
and makes jokes. He does speak freely and does not fear authorities. I am sure
that he is a top class cosmonaut and I hope that he will make many flights in
the framework of the International Space Station. That is what he deserves.

BKV-3:

This airconditioner often shows caprices after it has been switched
on. After 5 or 7 minutes there sounds an alarm signal about the inside
pressure. If the cosmonauts try again and this alarm does not show up after
this period, it continues to work well.

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