Successful docking at Mir; The docking took place on 17.03.1998 at 00.31.17 UTC. The last 20 Meters and the docking itself were manually executed by Musabayev with the system TORU. From 0000 UTC the operation could be monitored via Altair-2. Musabayev observed the manoeuvres of the Progress-M38. All went according to calculations. The system Kurs was in use, but Musabayev and Budarin were at the control panel of the TORU system ready to take over if necessary. The crew followed the operation via several systems: the monitor of the TORU, the LIV-camera, via a camera on board of the Progress-M38 and also visually.

Andy Thomas made images with a video-camera. Musabayev reported all distances, approach speeds, deviations along the 3-axes and also that there were no 'emergency instructions' so Kurs was STILL functioning well. At 0015 UTC the link via Altair-2 ceased and a few minutes later the VHF window opened. At 0024 UTC just before LOS for my position the distance to Mir was still 150 Meters with an approach speed of 4 CM/sec. All went well until the distance of 40 Meters. Then Kurs showed fluctuations which might be an indication that the Kurs system was no longer reliable.

Musabayev decided to switch over to the manual guidance by TORU and from 20 Meters he steered Progress-M38 to the aft docking port (+X-axis) and accomplished a perfect docking. During the pass in the next orbit the air seal checks were still going on. Via VHF-2 (130.165 mc) Andy Thomas spoke with his leads and he said that there had been no surprises. When Progress-M38 was docking he had felt a slight bump. At 0206 UTC the crew was opening the hatch.

Progress-M37:

This old freighter separated from Mir on 15.03.1998 at 19.16.01 UTC and burned up in the atmosphere east of New-Zealand at 23.03.46 UTC. 1st Spacewalk (EVA) crew 25th Main Expedition. For the time being on schedule for 1.04.1998. A final decision will be made soon.

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