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Mir Expedition EO-16. Soyuz TM-19 docked at the rear port of the Kvant module (vacated by Progress M-23 on July 2) at 13:55:01 GMT on July 3. Soyuz TM-19 undocked from Mir at 07:29 GMT on November 4. The Soyuz instrument module (PAO, priborno-agregatniy otsek) fired its deorbit engine, and was jettisoned together with the orbital module (BO, bitovoy otsek) at 10:51 GMT, with entry interface for the descent module (SA, spuskaemiy apparat) at 10:54. It landed 170 km north-east of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan on 1994 November 4 at 11:18 GMT.
Narrative (adapted from D S F Portree's Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, 1995)
Soyuz TM-19 arrived at Mir with the Principal Expedition 16 crew of Yuri Malenchenko and Talgat Musabayev on 3 July. Valeri Polyakov, who had arrived on Mir with the Principal Expedition 15 crew, remained aboard on his long-duration mission. The EO-15 crew returned uneventfully aboard Soyuz TM-18 on 9 July.
Progress M-24 arrived at Mir on 27 August but ran into problems. The freighter's first automatic docking attempt failed. During the second attempt, on August 30, Progress M-24 bumped into Mir's forward longitudinal port two to four times at low speed, then drifted away. The Agat crew was running low on supplies, so the Russians gave consideration to mothballing Mir in late September in the event Progress M-24 could not dock. Ground controllers stated that the station had sufficient propellant to operate in unmanned mode for 4 months. On September 2 Malenchenko took manual control of Progress M-24 using a control panel on Mir. A TV on Mir displayed an image of the station's front port transmitted from cameras on Progress M-24; the same image appeared on screens in the TsUP. In an impressive demonstration of remote piloting, Malenchenko docked Progress M-24 without additional incident. The technique had been tested using Progress M-15 and Progress M-16 during Principal Expedition 13 (1993).
Malenchenko and Musabayev opened the Kvant 2 EVA airlock outer hatch on September 9 to begin humanity's 100th spacewalk. During the spacewalk, which lasted 5 hr, 4 min, they inspected the docking port struck by Progress M-24—it proved to be undamaged—and mended a thermal blanket torn when Soyuz TM-17 struck the station on January 14. They also prepared equipment for moving the Kristall solar arrays to Kvant, and affixed test materials to Mir's exterior.
On September 14 cosmonauts Musabayev and Malenchenko carried out assembly work connected with the ongoing effort to move Kristall's solar arrays to supports on Kvant. They also inspected the Sofora girder. The EVA lasted 6 hr, 1 min.
On 6 October, 1994, Mir Principal Expedition 17 (Alexandr Viktorenko and Yelena Kondakova) arrived at Mir together with ESA astronaut Ulf Merbold aboard Soyuz TM-20, Valeri Polyakov was again to remain aboard on his record duration flight. During final approach, Soyuz TM-20 yawed unexpectedly. He assumed manual control and completed docking without incident. Kondakova, the mission rookie, was the third Russian female cosmonaut and the first female to take part in a longduration flight. Ulf Merbold was a physicist and veteran of two U.S. Space Shuttle missions. The month-long Euromir 94 experiment program was considered a precursor to the ESA Columbus module planned for the joint U.S.-Russia-ESA-Japan-Canada space station. Merbold's program was planned rapidly, final agreement between ESA and Russian having been concluded in November 1992. It was also constrained by funding limitations—ESA budgeted only about $60 million for Euromir 94. Because of these limitations, Merbold relied heavily on equipment left on Mir by earlier French, Austrian, and German visitors to the station, as well as the Czech-built CSK-1 materials processing furnace. He also used equipment delivered by Progress M-24 and Soyuz TM-20. Merbold's experiment program included 23 life sciences, 4 materials sciences, and 3 technology experiments.
On October 11 the six cosmonauts aboard Mir were unable to activate a video camera and TV lights while recharging Soyuz TM-20's batteries. A short circuit had disabled the computer which guided Mir's solar arrays, forcing the station to drain its batteries. The cosmonauts used reaction control thrusters on the Soyuz TM-spacecraft docked to the station to orient it so its solar arrays would point toward the Sun, and switched on a backup computer. Normal conditions were restored by October 15. According to Yuri Antoshechkin, Deputy Flight Director for Mir Systems, speaking in December at JSC, the shortage afflicted only the Mir core module. Antoshechkin stated through an interpreter that unspecified minor crew error, coupled with a long period out of contact with monitors in the TsUP (caused by Altair/SR relay satellite "prophylactic work") during a crew sleep period, contributed to the base block discharging its batteries unnoticed, and that an automatic alarm awakened the crew when the power shortage reached a critical level.
Ground teams rescheduled Merbold's experiments to allow completion of those interrupted by the power problems, and moved experiments using large amounts of electricity to the end of Merbold's stay. In addition, the Czech-built CSK-1 furnace malfunctioned, forcing postponement of five of Merbold's experiments until after his return to Earth.
On November 3 Malenchenko, Musabayev, and Merbold undocked in Soyuz TM-19 and withdrew to a distance of 190 m. They then activated its Kurs system, which successfully guided the spacecraft to an automatic docking with Mir's aft port. The cosmonauts then went back into Mir. The test was a response to the Progress M-24 docking problems. If it had failed, the Soyuz TM-19 cosmonauts would have made an emergency return to Earth.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on an 11-day atmospheric research mission on November 3. French astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy was aboard as a mission specialist. In remarks made after Atlantis' launch, ESA Director-General Jean- Marie Luton stated that there was "a French astronaut flying on an American Space Shuttle to perform experiments from U.S., French, German, and Belgian scientists....Meanwhile, on Russia's Mir space station, ESA astronaut Ulf Merbold is completing a month-long mission, the longest in European spaceflight. By the end of the decade, this level of cooperation will be routine aboard the international space station."
On November 4 Merbold again squeezed into the Soyuz- TM 19 descent module, together with the EO-16 crew of Malenchenko and Musabayev, and 16 kg of the life sciences samples he collected during his stay on the station. Additional samples -- including materials processing samples to be produced when the Principal Expedition 17 cosmonauts carry out the experiments Merbold was to have conducted during his stay -- were to be returned to Earth by Space Shuttle Atlantis in mid-1995. Soyuz TM-19 undocking, deorbit burn, reentry, and landing occurred without significant incident.
AKA: Agat (Agate ); Soyuz TM-19.
First Launch: 1994.07.01.
Last Launch: 1994.11.04.
Duration: 125.95 days.
16th Main expedition to Mir:
This mission consists of the new crew together with Doctor Polyakov. Malenchenko and Musabayev will return to earth on 2.11.94. Together with the new enthusiastic cosmonauts Soyuz-TM19 delivered to Mir hard- and software for experiments during the Euromir 94 mission of Merbold in October this year. In September 1994 Mal. and Mus. have to make 4 EVA (spacewalks) aimed at the transfer of the solar panels from Kristall to Kvant-1, maintenance and inspections of the outer surface of the complex and the replacement of containers (among other things the American Trek-experiment) with experiments exposed to open space.
Soyuz-TM18: The relieved crew (Afanasyev and Usachov) will return to earth by this ship on 9.07.94.
Progress-M23: This freighter undocked from Mir on 2.07.94 at 0841 UTC and decayed in the earth's atmosphere the same day. Just before decay it jettisoned the VBK (ballistic return capsule) which made a safe landing within Russian territory 150 KM N.E. of the town Orsk at 1508 UTC.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Mir: 2 days ago the command of the Mir-complex was handed over by Afanasyev to Malenchenko. From this moment on the call sign of Polyakov changed from Derbent-3 to Agat-3.
Soyuz-TM19: This ship is still docked to the aft (Kvant-1) docking port of the Mir-complex. Contrary to the normal practice this ship will remain there, so no redocking from the aft to the forward docking port has been planned. One of the reasons may be the future operations with modules like Module- T (Kristall), Spektr and Priroda.
Progress-M24: Thus far the launch of this freighter is still on schedule for 13.07.94.
Tracking ships: On 8.07.94 the tracking ship Kosmonavt Pavel Belyayev moored in the port of Antwerp. A few hours later I visited the ship for a long interview with the Chief of the Expedition of KPB. I was able to follow the movements of the ship and to determine her destination by monitoring radio traffic between the ship and the Mir-station. The chief answered a lot of questions regarding the fate and future of the famous fleet of tracking ships. The KPB is now on her way to Sankt Peterburg. A ship to take over her task in the Atlantic did not show up but remained in Sankt Peterburg due to budget problems.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Soyuz-TM19: This ship is still docked to the aft (Kvant-1) port of the Mir-station. Contrary to the normal practice S- TM19 will not be redocked to the forward (PKhO) docking port of the complex.
EuroMir94: The Soyuz-TM20 with on board the relief crew (Viktorenko and Kondakova or the stand-in crew Gidzhenko and Avdeyev) with an ESA-cosmonaut (Ulf Merbold or Pedro Duque) is on schedule for launch on 3.10.94. The European cosmonaut will remain on board Mir for a period of 30 days. The training of the crews takes place in Starcity near Moscow as well as in the European Astronaut Centre of ESA in Cologne. In Moscow they have to study the Russian language and to get familiar with the Soyuz-TM and the Mir-space station and its modules and in Cologne the training is aimed at the European experiments, which for the greater part will cover life-sciences, i.e. monitoring the human body in microgravity conditions.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
(This Mir-report is derived from the reports in Dutch 221 and 222. So the next Mir-report in English will be MirNEWS.223)
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
On 30 July 1994 during pass in orbit nr. 48273 Musabayev asked TsUp to inform Sergey Samburov that the power unit of the transceiver for Radio-amateurism is out of order. The last time I monitored traffic on 145.550 Mc from Mir was on 27 July 1994 during the passes in orbits 48226 and 48227 when Polyakov (U3Mir) tried to make a QSO with Francis in France and with OE1AKB.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
PROGRESS-M24: This freighter will be launched from Baykonur on 25.08.94 at 1425 UTC. If all goes according to the plan listeners in Western-Europe can receive radio signals on the known frequencies (166.140, 166.130, 165.874 and 922.755 + or - for Doppler) 3 hours later.
Spacewalks (EVA-s): Instead of 4 only 2 EVA's will be made by Malenchenko and Musabayev. These EVA-s are scheduled for 8 and 12.09.94. Purpose: transfer of solar panels from Kristall to Kvant-1.
SPEKTR: The launch of this Module-O has been put back again. Now there is word that the launch will take place in may 1995. Undoubtedly this will also mean that the launch of Priroda (Module-E) will be put back either.
American flights to Mir: The schedule for these flights might be changed due to the delay of the launch of Spektr. No further details yet.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Recently the cosmonauts checked the system TORU (teleorientation and guidance) obviously to be ready to guide Progress-M24 manually from Mir during the approach and docking if necessary.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Radio traffic: The fact that there might be something wrong could be derived from TV-images received via Altair by our good friend Peter and from the radio traffic thereafter. In the period in which the 'final approach' was planned the crew changed the orientation of the Mir-complex to get better visual observations of the 'naughty' Progress-M24. The transmitters of the Progress-M24 in the 922, 166 and 165 Mc bands transmitted continuously. During the 2d pass of the Mir-station (orb. 48716, 1725-1735 UTC) Progress-M24 still flew autonomously and from the radio traffic between Mir and TsUP could be derived that the cosmonauts tried to observe Progress-M24 visually. Progress-M24 flew a few kilometres (2.7 a 1.5) ahead of Mir on the same altitude. Visual observations: In those part of the Netherlands and UK where the sky was clear Mir and Progress-M24 could be seen flying separately from each other during Mir's orb. nr. 48718, 2038- 2046 UTC. The 'small' star Progress-M24 flew 6 seconds ahead of the 'huge' star Mir. TCA Progress-M24: 204051 UTC, TCA Mir: 204057 UTC.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
TsUP: In this flight control centre specialists did (until deadline of this report) not know the causes of both failures. More docking attempts are under consideration, but the decision depends on further analyses and results of meetings of specialists today. An eventual 3d attempt will not be made today (31.08). Among the possibilities is the use of the system TORU (Tele-orientation and guidance), which enables the crew to guide Progress-M24 from inside Mir.
Consequences: These can be far-reaching for Russian manned spaceflight if further attempts to dock Progress-M24 would fail. Except from the normal cargo (food, water, fuel, repair material, post etc.) Progress-M24 had to deliver a part of the experiments for the Euromir94 mission and American equipment to enhance some systems on board Mir. The spare stock now available for life on board of the complex is enough for 1 month. So new supply before the end of September is urgently needed. Further failures can hamper the plans for the near future, i.e. the EVA-s in September, Euromir94 and the flights of American astronauts and Mir-Shuttle operation.
(Derived from an enormous amount of information available until 31.08.94 at 1130 UTC.)
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
The 3d attempt to dock the freighter Progress-M24 to Mir succeeded. This time they used the system TORU instead of Kurs. Malenchenko safely guided and docked Progress-M24 to the forward axial docking port (P.Kh.O.-transition section). The docking took place on 2.09.94 at 1330 UTC. During the last phase of the approach Malenchenko was fully responsible and in an admirable way he performed his task. Molodets!! Voice communication between Mir and TsUP via Altair was loud and clear and so I was able to monitor the actions and observations of Malenchenko. Just before docking the voice communication stopped while Progress-M24 was on a distance of 5 Meters with an approach speed of 26 cm/sec. M. had to correct Progress-M24's course due to a slight deviation to left.
Radio traffic via VHF after the docking:
During the pass in orb. 48809 (1648 UTC) M. reported that the hatch had been opened and that they already more or less had started the unloading. The ship was in good order and all was clean. The crew had to unload the container Biokrist and install it in the right place as soon as possible. (Biokrist is complex of protein crystallisation experiments) During the next pass (orb. 48810, 1824 UTC) the main subject again was the cargo and the special attention for the container Biokrist).
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
Euromir94:
Rumours suggested a substantial delay of the beginning of that mission. This has not officially been confirmed. Officially has been stated that it might be possible that Soyuz-TM20 with the European cosmonaut on board will blast off on 4.10.94, so 1 day later.
Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
On 13.09.1994 they worked in open space for the 2d time. The EVA lasted 6 hrs and 1 min between 0631 UTC (opening of the hatch) and 1232 UTC (closure of the hatch). The cosmonauts did a lot of minor repairs, replacements of bolts, screws, etc. of platforms and equipment on the outer surface of the complex. They also spoke about an old antenna. Activities of that kind must be done now and then, but have been often neglected during EVA's due to more important matters. The cosmonauts also did some preparatory work aimed at the future transfer of the solar batteries from Kristall to Kvant-1. This transfer has been put back again, now even to the beginning of 1995.
Radio communications: During EVA-s the frequency of the VHF- downlink is somewhat lower: 143.622 mc, shifting by Doppler to 143.617 mc. Listeners in Western-Europe, inclusive UK, who monitor Mir-traffic during EVA's often experience heavy interference caused by cross-modulation from an air traffic control frequency.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Mir: The Mir-crew is preparing the station for the extension of the crew with another 3 persons. Therefore the life-support systems get special attention. The crew also modified the ASU (waste collection equipment) for the use by a lady. The crew is also busy with the loading of the freighter Progress-M24 with garbage and no things which are no longer needed. The Progress-M24 will have to leave the complex to free the docking port for the Soyuz-TM20. There have been plans to execute some test-approaches by the Progress-M24 after the undocking to try to unveil the causes of the malfunction of the Kurs system during the unsuccessful docking attempts on 26 and 30.08.94. After that operation the Progress-M24 will burn up in the atmosphere over a designated area in the Pacific ocean. Progress-M24 does not carry a VBK (ballistic return capsule).
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Estimated time of docking to Mir:
Result of calculations estimate the docking time of Soyuz-TM20 to Mir on 6.10.94 at 0013 UTC, ESA (still) sticks to 0030 UTC. Soyuz-TM20 has to dock to the forward (P.Kh.O.) axial docking port of the Mir complex.
Progress-M24: This freighter still occupies that docking port and has to get away before the arrival of Soyuz-TM20. It might be possible that after the separation the Russians will check the system Kurs of Progress-M24 during some dummy approaches as to reveal the causes of malfunctions during recent unsuccessful docking attempts. Progress-M24 does not carry a VBK (ballistic return capsule) and will burn up in the atmosphere over an area in the Pacific.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Soyuz-TM20 docked at the forward axial docking port (transition section) of the complex. At a distance of 130 M. from the Mir complex Viktorenko had to take over manually due to a malfunction of an on board computer. During the radio traffic in orb. 49328, 0005 UTC, V. reported the progress of the operation. The Soyuz-TM20 was in a distance of 151 M., approach speed of 3 cm/sec just before LOS at 001148 UTC. From a distance of appr. 50 M Viktorenko had started the final approach and his skill amazed the observers in the ESA/EAC facility in Cologne: very quickly, with only a few corrections, he accurately moored his ship. During the next pass in orb. 49329, 0143 UTC, the new crew already was in Mir's base block preparing a TV-session. One of the first persons to congratulate the crew, especially the Euromir94 astronaut Merbold, was the Dir. General of ESA, Luton. Everybody in Cologne was pleased with the excellent physical condition of the newcomers. During the pass in orb. 49330, 0317 UTC, the cheerful meeting of both crews could be heard. Again there was a TV-session also with Kondakova. During the next window in orb. 49331, 0449 UTC, Viktorenko reported that he did all what he had to do with his ship Soyuz-TM20. Progress-M24: This naughty freighter had to withdraw before the arrival of Soyuz-TM20. Progress-M24 separated from Mir on 5.10.-
94 at 1853 UTC. Probably she flew some orbits autonomously before burning up in the atmosphere over an area in the Pacific. There have been no reports about extra manoeuvres with Progress-M24.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
The inserted test flight of Soyuz-TM19 will take place on 2.11.94. The ship will separate from at 1100 UTC and execute some approaches to check the automatic Kurs system.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202
Euromir94: In spite of power problems in the beginning of this mission all medical-biological experiments during which Ulf Merbold, the ESA-astronaut, was the main guinea-pig have been successfully concluded. Merbold is sure that the samples did not suffer damages from the period in which the refrigerator was switched off. The material-processing experiments had to be cancelled due to the malfunction of an oven. The materials for these experiments remain on board Mir and after the repair of that oven the Russian crew will do the experiments. Spare parts for that oven will be delivered to the complex by the next Progress-M freighter.
Estimated landing time Soyuz-TM19:
The landing has been put forward a little bit and is expected to take place on 4.11.94 at 1055 UTC.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165-A-UK3202.