MIRNEWS.243    11 FEBRUARY 1995

Discovery-MIR:

The rendezvous operation got sufficient atten
tion in the media. So I refrain from repeating the extensively
published facts. I monitored as much as possible radiotraffic
related to the rendezvous. Here some items which might be
interesting for insiders and 'real spaceflight freaks':
1. During the rendezvous TV transmissions from MIR with images
of Discovery were relayed via Altair, the Russian TDRS over 17
degs. West. These transmissions reached K.S.C. and Houston and
have been widely used by TV-organisations, for instance CNN.
As soon as the windows for MIR-Altair traffic closed the new
Luch-1 over 97 degrees East and a number of Russian tracking
stations took over.
2. Cooperation and coordination between both FCC-s (Houston
and Kaliningrad) went smoothly.
3. For direct radiocontac between MIR and Discovery the VHF-
channels 121.750 and 130.1625MC -in fact MIR-channels- were in
use. Vladimir Titov also used a handset for communications in
the hamband: 145.325 and 145.625Mc. Before and after the
rendezvous operation MIR and Discovery now and then used
Altair and TDRS channels for contact with each other.
4. Regularly commentators emphasized the fact that the opera
tion was a rehearsal for the docking operation of Atlantis in
June 1995. This rehearsal was a success: Discovery remained
stable on the closest approach of 10 M just in a position
opposite to the dockingport of the Kristall-module to be used
by Atlantis for the docking. Before that docking the Russians
will have to move the Kristall from the side- to the axial
forward docking port of the transitionsection.

Radiotraffic during the days before the launch of Discovery
and before the rendezvous: A lot of traffic was related to the
preparations of the rendezvous. For the MIR-crew this meant a
lot of work to install TV- and Photocamera's and training in
communicationprocedures. Conversations about these subjects
could be monitored during communicationsessions via Altair.
Also via Altair the MIR-crew regularly spoke with cosmonaut
Titov on K.S.C. where he was waiting for the launch.

After the rendezvous: Unfortunately the passes of MIR and
Discovery for our position occured during the nighthours and
the cosmonauts sticked to their normal day- and nightroutine.
This made it impossible for us to monitor direct radiotraffic
between MIR and Discovery being not far from each other for a
long time. During all possible windows for visual observati
ons dense clouds made these observations impossible.

MIR-routine now: Now the Russians are again among themselves.
This will not often be the case in 1995 and 1996.
(To be continued in the next MIRNEWS).

Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.