MIRNEWS.450 15 JANUARY 1999 Turn of the year: In the night from 31.12.98 to 1.01.1999 the geostationary Luch-1/Gelios was regularly in use for special meetings with authorities, family and friends. The arrangements for these sessions had been made via the main VHF channel. On 1.01.1999 Avdeyev celebrated his birthday. In my opinion he deserves a place in the Guinness book of records, for he already did this twice before during missions on board of the MIR-spacestation. Technical problems: in the period after the last MIR-report only a few technical problems were reported. Now and then the crew got orders to economize the power consumption due to malfunctioning accumulator batteries. So they had to switch off the BKV-3 (a.c.) and once, when they were about to use the Titus oven, they had to switch off the Elektron oxygen generator in Module-D. Regularly they spoke about maintenance and repair work in the Modules-D, T and I. Around 14.01.1999 the cosmonauts replaced a unit in the Antares (the transmitter for relays via the geostationary satellite). Electromagnetic fields: The crew worked on a kind of inventarisation of the intensity and possible interferences or disturbances caused by electromagnetic fields produced by equipment in the living quarters of MIR's baseblock. Experiments: A great deal was similar to those in previous reports. In general again experiments in the geophysical, biological, astrophysical, technological and medical fields. Again the geophysical experiments with the Ionozond for the study of the ionosphere of earth and the propagation of radiowaves in space, and a study for the prediction of earthquakes. And remote sensing of the earth's surface with Alisa in the Module Priroda to make spectrographical images of the continents, water reservoirs and the ocean bottom at great depths and of clouds. In the technological field the furnaces, for instance Titus and a furnace with sections Onyx-1 and 2, were in use for melting and other experiments. Astrophysical equipment was used for the study of electrical charged particles. Medical experiments consisted of checks during exercises by the cosmonauts on the hometrainer and the treadmill. They also worked with a device for the electrical stimulations of the muscles during exercises. Communications: In this period MIR is passing during the nighthours and so there is almost no traffic via the VHF channels during passes within my range. For Packet Radio the 145.985 mc radio amateur frequency is still in use. Now and then the SSTV modulation can be heard on this frequency. Znamya-2.5: The experiment with the solar reflector from Progress-M40 will take place on 4.02.1999. Soyuz-TM29: The launch of this transportship with the crew of the 27th Main Expedition and the French spacionaute is scheduled for 20.02.1999. Eventual extension of MIR's operational life: Inspite of the increasing rumours, which also are getting stronger, the fate of MIR is still unsure. The Head of the R.K.A. Koptev did not yet sign the documents about the program after June 1999, which are already lying on his desk. Thusfar the Russian government failed to give a financial guarantee demanded by an unknow enterprise which is willing to invest in the prolongation of MIR's operational existance. For those yearning for such an extension encouraging news: To remain on the safe side the Russians already have crews for the period after June 1999. Main crew: Zalyotin/Kaleri, stand in crew: Sharipov/Vinogradov. And: Possibly the French mission will be extended until August 1999. So 6 months instead of 3. C.M. van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.