MIRNEWS.463 24 JULY 1999 2nd spacewalk (EVA) 27th Main Expedition MIR: This time Afanasyev and Avdeyev 'walked' in open space and Haignere stayed inside to lend assistance, act as a liaison between TsUP and his comrades outside and to make video and photos. The exit hatch of the Sh.S.O. (airlock of the Module-D) was opened 9 minutes before the scheduled time. So for a while some profit of time, but all activities during the EVA lasted longer than planned and so did the EVA. The hatch swung open at 1106UTC and was closed behind the cosmonauts at 1713UTC, so a duration of 6 hrs and 7 minutes, 28 minutes longer than had been foreseen in the original plan. The number of tasks was quite substantial and not all of them could be accomplished. One item had been added to the schedule, i.e. the search for an air-leakage in the hull of the module Kvant-2 (Module-D). We still remember how difficult it was to find the leakage in the hull of the module-O (Spektr) during EVA-s and also with the help of gaseous dyemarkers for observations from departing Shuttles, and so it is not difficult to conclude that this task would be a mission impossible. The fact that the cosmonauts at least had to give it a try clearly indicates that specialists at TsUP consider the leakage, though very small, to be a serious problem. Ultimately they did not find the leakage. A lot of time was consumed during attempts to deploy a new system for the deployment of antennae for satellites. This antenna was a Russian-Georgean project. The parabolic reflector antenna had to be installed at the Sofora girder and deployed with a remote control. Afanasyev was able to open the antenna for 80 or 90%. During the following EVA the cosmonauts will try to achieve 100%. If they do not succeed the antenna they will get rid of it. During the EVA the cosmonauts had to retrieve some experiments from the outersurface. They succeeded to do so with the experiments Exobiology and Dvikon. Exobiology is a study to determine the possibility for survival in open space of organic samples wrapped up in meteoritelike materials. Dvikon is a study to determine and measure the effects ot the exhaust of MIR's engines on materials nearby. Due to lack of time they did not try to retrieve the experiment Spica. The EVA ended in a great hurry due to a failure of the thermoregulation in the spacesuit of Afanasyev. A filter was overheated. Communications: A serious handicap for cosmonauts who have to do EVA-s is the fact that there is not a single geostationary communication satellite available. A lot of crucial activities they had to do when they were out of range of groundfacilities, for instance the opening of the exit hatch. The communications between MIR and TsUP took place on 143.625 mc (UKW-1) as well as on 130.165 mc (UKW-2). As always during EVA-s 7 kc/s lower than normal. When MIR came in range during orbit 76715 at 1640UTC, the hatch was still open. During the first passes within my range TsUP and the cosmonauts experienced a lot of noise caused by cross modulation from air-traffic control centers. So the help of Haignere as a relaystation was very useful. The cosmonauts got orders to close the hatches between the air lock and the P.N.O. and the P.N.O. and P.G.O (respectively the scientific-instrument compartment and the instrument-cargo compartment) of the module which is leaking air, Module-D. 3rd EVA: This EVA is scheduled for 28.07.1999 between 1020 and 1530UTC. Which of the Russians will make this EVA together with Haignere was not yet known during the hard disc preparation of this report. Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.