The freighter Progress-M22 has been launched from Baykonur on 22.03- .94 at 0454 UTC. If all goes well the Progress-M22 will dock to Mir's aft (Kvant-1) docking port on 24.03.94 at abt. 0638 UTC. During some of the passes within our range the transmitters of Progress-M22 could be heard. During the pass from 0929-0931 UTC only in the 166 and 165 mc bands, from 1059-1105 UTC also the beacon on 922.755 mc transmitted. So the transmitters did not -as usual- transmit during all passes. TsUP stated that all systems worked without problems. TsUP emphasised that the delay of the launch (originally on schedule for 16 or 18.03.94) was caused by the blizzards and that the fire in MIK and a command centre on 7.03.94 had nothing to do with the delay. The blizzards buried the cosmodrome under snow dunes up to 6 meters high.

Tracking ships: Now and then TsUP and Mir meet problems with the communications via the geostationary satellite Altair. Probably this is caused by malfunctions of the meanwhile worn out transceiver (Antares) on board Mir The tracking ship Cosmonaut Pavel Belyayev (KPB), somewhere in the Atlantic, regularly is involved in Mir-communications. On 23.03.94 from 1705-1714 UTC Mir and TsUP have a communication sched via KPB.

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