Conference 7.286::space

    Docking was carried out successfully. There was a brief piece of
    video of all 5 cosmonauts inside Mir grinning at the camera.
    
    gary

    the crew will be returning on Thur, I have heard rumors that
    one of the crew had a heart problem is there any truth to this,
    I have not seen any news about it so I would assume it is not
    true. 
    
    I have been monitoring the new crew, on 143.625 Mhz and they
    are quite acitve on the radio, also the 166.125 MHz freq is
    very active now, I believe it is used for telemetry data from
    KVANT.  I have heard the voice all all three new cosmonauts
    plus the commander of the old crew.
    
    
    
    Before the crew was launch one could hear the present crew
    signing and playing a guitar and what sounded like a music
    box.

    I saw a short article in the Sunday newspaper which mentioned
    one of the astronauts on Mir was returning soon due to a heart
    condition.  The article didn't go into details, but I guess it
    is not just a rumor.
    

    thanks for the conf. of the Heart problem, I have not heard
    which one it is but they will be return to EArth on Thursday
    six days after docking. That was the orignal sked so it must
    not be a big problem.  Radio Moscow has not mention anything
    about it, what newspaper did you see the article in, I would
    like to get a copy.
    
    Also the MIR complex is staying at the 10 KM lower orbit, the
    only reason I can think for doing this is for the photo mission the
    Syrian was to do.  I got an elemement set for the Soyuz TM-3
    the initial orbit was lower then the MIR complex so it could
    overtake it an pop up for docking, can anyone confirm this is
    the method they use for docking, it could have been a temp.
    orbit then raised and pop down on the target but I dont think
    so as MIR had already passed by when TM3 was launch, so I would
    assume it was a TM3 catch up game.
    
    

    Radio Moscow announced that Alexander Laveikin Dr. have recomended
    that he return to earth do to a Heart problem.  He will be replace
    by Flight Eng. Alexandra Alexandrov. In the mean time the crew
    load the Soyuz TM (? 2 or 3 not mention) for the return trip.
    
    Included are samples of alloys made in zero G's that are harder
    and stronger then those made on Earth.  The Syrian Cosmonauts
    has also several KM of exposed Film he has taken.
    

    The Soviet Syrian Crew put on thier space suites a litter after
    midnight (Moscow time) with Live TV coverage of the undocking
    of the Soyuz TM craft.  This AM broadcast from Radio Moscow
    said that the crew had landed sucessfully.
               
    RM did not mentin if it was the TM-2 or TM-3 craft, it would
    make the most sense if it was TM-2, it is older and undocking
    it would open up the front docking port (on ball) for the 
    next large space module.
    
    john
    

    Cardiology problem that Alexandra Lavakin had reminded me
    of a discussion about the long term effect of zero g's on the
    heart.  There seems to be a discrepency between the US and CCCP
    handel such problems with exercise program, (isometric etc)
    and the CCCP had recently announce that the condition of the
    Heart was getting better under there new exercise program in
    long duration flights.  Then I seem to remember , maybe in
    AW or and ESA publication that someone had discovered a flaw
    in the way the CCCP was taking or analysing their data
    
    does anyone rember what article I am thinking of, or any more
    details?
    
    thanks JOhn
    

From: [email protected] (Phil R. Karn)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: MIR Elements, 24 September 1987
Date: 29 Sep 87 20:56:13 GMT
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc

    For those of you who haven't tried it yet, hearing MIR on its
143.625 Mhz downlink frequency is easy!  It's probably the strongest
signal I've ever heard from space.  A pass the other night that
reached a maximum elevation of only 20 deg or so had them S9+10db on
my IC271A (no preamp) and KLM 14C satellite array.  They should be
audible on a 2m HT too. Remember that they operate on Moscow time, so
the best time to listen is after midnight Eastern time.  I understand
they communicate through a tracking ship near Sable Island (Canada) so
stations outside the northeast may be out of luck unless there's
another tracking ship within range of MIR when they are above your
horizon. 
 
    That frequency seems to be in use by an FM repeater (US Govt?
MARS?) in the New York area.  I wonder what went through their minds
the first time they heard strong Russian voices on their frequency...
:-) 
 
Phil

    the other day the MIR crew could not make contack to the ship at
    Sable Island, what seem to have happen the uplink freq was being
    used by an airplane and was getting fm capture over the Ship
    at Sable Island, the crew had left the mike open so one could hear
    the up link, normally it is Russian but during this time it sounded
    like routine aircraft trafic in English  .....
    

    Mir has not move, I have several element set, radio LOS and visual
    sighting that keeps it decaying, in fact my program is only about
    5 sec off , Radio Moscow had announce back when they jetterson
    Progess-31 that they had fired the eng for the first time in a long
    time, but no orbit change was observed.  Right after that they
    had the emergency evacuation test of MIR and since Progress-32 has
    arrived.  Now they talk about sending a KVANT size 'AIRHEAD' 
    The should have plently of fule!
    (set 889 has Mean motion at 15.83985948 on the 301 day of 87 )
    
    I can only think of a couple of reason why....
    1) a picture takeing mission or some other reason simular reason
    2) a failure , some indication are they are still short of power
       they can not run the air conditioners as long as the crew would
       like and the new batteries in Kvant are charged but not connected
    3) getting ready for a very large unit to be launch that
       is to heavy to get to a higher altitude  
    4) just fule conservation or check out how the space train 
       handles in low earth orbit, they are doing the same with
       Salyut -7 refinding there orbital mechanics for a higher
       earth station.
    
    dont forget that the older Salyut-6 etc were flow at very low 
    orbits so that in itself is not unusually, just seems strange
    
    
    in the mean time in AW there is  a picture of a Astronaut all dress
    up in an EVA suit with is NASA patch , American Flag etc, I wanted
    to add the following message and send it into Washington DC
    
    ' ALL DRESSED UP AND NOWHERE TO GO '
        ' send MONEY '
               ' Love the Next Generation '
                                  
    

    A comment on the possibility of refueling from modules attached
    to the docking adapter. Previous Salyuts have only had the required
    plumbing to refuel from the rear port. The Kvant has 'pass through'
    plumbing to allow Progress refueling (did Kvant carry any propellant,
    other than in its 'service module'?)
    
    An article in this week's AW&ST makes Mir sound quite different
    in internal design compared to Salyut-7 so refueling from the front
    may be possible, but I think it unlikely.
    
    gary

    yes I would not think fueling from the front is possible or desirable
    all the hardware is at the rear, if the MIR complex was
    truely in troulble, the solution would be simple --  move
    the Soyuz TM unit to the rear and use it's eng to change
    the orbit then replace the TM with a fresh unit to return
    the crew, they can dock unmaned as demostrated with the
    first Soyuz TM-1 and have room for the return of the
    3 cosmonauts so I think the low orbit is intentional
    In fact the Progress units could do the same and their
    has been P-31 and P-32 so it is unlikly that both would
    have failed, they want the low earth orbit...
    
    
    john
    

    this week AW states that MIR complex is using it gyros instead
    of it alt. jets to maintain position, it goes into how many 
    arc-sec repeatablitly is possible etc and the fact that it
    only uses 90 watts of power.  This could be why no alt. adjustments
    have been made, it is nice as it gives me a chance to check 
    the orbit pridiction program out for a decaying obj and the
    drag  equations. ..
    
    one other thing, AW showed the Soyuz TM-3 docked to the rear
    port, this can not be true as there is a progress unit there
    and to do that they would have had to move the TM-3 to the
    front docking ball
    
    I dont think KVANT Astro Physical unit has any fule, the
    Docking Tug did and most likly still does, it plays tags
    the the MIR complex at a higher parking orbit.  I would
    not be suprised to see it return to help dock other modules
    to the MIR COMPLEX or to the next trip from MIR to SAYLUT-7
    its a long journy now
    
    RM announced that it will be next year before any more large
    modules will be added to the MIR complex, an it is expected
    that two such units will be launched...  They are also pushing
    for the joint MARs mission...
    
    
    jb
    

    yes , but the orbit is not as stable , they must have
    shut off the GYRO's and gone back to manual/auto chemical
    thrusting as they are jumping AOS/LOS  by about +- 2 mins from
    what the Nasa elements set are predicting.
    
    I have not heard the 'WHIRLING' sounds that I have heard
    before when they undock a PROGRESS ferry, so I don't think
    they have done it yet. I would expect that  they will do it
    before this weekend and launch a new PROGRESS unit within
    a weeks time.
    
    john
                                               
    Radio Moscow also said that next GUEST COSMONAUTS are
    schdule for next summer and that there experiments will
    take them into raw space.
    
    

    Tuesday the 17th of NOV made a major orbital correction
    based on the latest nasa element set # 915 it is over
    10 min late, today it was almost 15 min late
    
    RM announced today that progress 32 has seperated from the
    mir complex and that MIR has change to a higher orbit.
    
    A New exercise program has been started, and more astrophysical
    experiments have been planed for today.
    
    Also last week , RM annound that Progress 33 was ready for
    launch...
    
    john
    
      
    

                     Keeping up with the Soviets
    
    If you have a Short wave receiver and have a  RTTY modem for 
    50 Baud/425 Hz Shift Normal  then there is a way  to keep up 
    with  the  latest Soviet Uniton Satellite launches,  monitor 
    the dailly TASS bulletin in English on  14.901  MHz  from  a 
    Cuban station CLN451 from 1200-1700UTC, this information was 
    found  in the New 3rd Edition of "COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES" 
    A monitor's Guide by Larry Van Horn  plus  many more bits of 
    very useful info.   I  find  this a  MUST  book  for  useful 
    informaton on  different   aspects  of satellite  monitoring 
    including frequencies and other useful. If you dont have one 
    get the new 3rd edition,it is more then a rewrite of the 2nd.
    
    This week end, they had an annoucement of the launch of Progress
    33 and gave its initial element set.   
    
    In the mean time I have a NASA set that confirms the MIR ORBIT
    COMPLEX has shifted orbits, and calculated how much etc
    
    Epoch Year: 1987  Day:  320.971624670  Orbit:  10019  Set: 926
    Inclination  =  51.62510000    R.A.A.N       =  86.58650000
    Eccentricity =   0.00132000    Arg of Per    =  17.48590000
    Mean Anomaly = 342.62560000    Mean Motion   =  15.78403973
    Drag         =  0.11771e-03    Frequency     =      143.625
    S.M.A.       =    6713.0569    Anom Period   =      91.2314
    Apogee Ht    =     343.7581    Perigee Ht    =     326.0356
    
    
    

23 NOV 87  TASS

The Progress-33 Cargo spacecraft  docked with the MIR Manned 
orbital complex at 04:39 Moscow Time. It docked to the Kvant 
Module bringing food, equipment and mail.

John
    

    This morning (4-dec-87) conversation between MIR and  the SESS 
    indicated that they would be coming home in a few days. I can not
    see how there can be a replacement crew before this crew
    leaves.  They also indicated that they would not be in
    communication from the 10-12 ( I assume this is because
    the MIR complex makes it passes during the crews sleeping
    time )  This would me the return to earth would be after
    the 12th
    
    john
    

    Interesting. A day or two back CNN carried a story along with Soviet
    news footage from inside Mir about Romanenkov (? I can never keep
    these names straight...) and his mileage record on the treadmill.
    They specifically mentioned that he would not be returning until
    the new year.
    
    Does Mir's current orbit allow for a Soyuz TM launch and rendezvous?
    
    gary

    re:34
    
    It is hard to get the full context form monitoring only 1/2 of the
    conversation.  Yuri could have even been talking about the ship
    returning in a few days ( the present ship has been at Sable Island
    since the middle of Aug ) but this is not the impression I got,
    but Yuri ides of a few days and ours may be different for a person
    who has spent his last 9 months in a space station.   The MIR complex
    is now only in communication with Sable Island durning the crews
    normal sleep period so it would be a good time to change ships.
    But the incress in physical exercise and the possible context of
    my monitoring indicate that he will be home soon.
    
    as for the possible of another Soyuz TM , the higher the orbit
    the more possible launch windows.  I have not check but I would
    assume that about 2 windows per week are possible.
     
    john
    

    Quick question:  The September 90 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine has
    a photo of the Soyuz TM-3 capsule showing the aft end after landing.
    (It's in the book review section, part of a review of a couple of books
    on the Soviet program.)  An access panel marked with the standard radiation
    warning symbol caught my eye.  Anyone know what that's about?  The
    panel is circular maybe 10" in diameter and is located on the aft end
    of the capsule slightly above and inboard of one of the pairs of
    'soft-landing' rockets.
    
    Mike H

    I saw the same photo.  My curiosity was piqued by what appears to be
    numbered instructions on the TM-3.  There are four panels numbered 1 to
    4 with pictures.  What are these?  (Opening instructions? :-)

    That will be a good question to ask at the Soviet Space Show.
    A good photo of the radiation symbol is in one of Clark books
    on the Soviet Space Program - However the instruction are
    not readable and the ones that are seem to be acronyms.
    
    john
    

    more:\
    
    I will try to pick up a copy, do you know 
    a) is it readable
    b) the antenna that pops out of one of the 'windows'
       is it visable.
    c) if the antenna is visable is it at an angle that
       I can get a good relative measuremnt to say the 
       door opening or some other know size (outside dia etc)
    
    thanks jOhn
    

    The view in Sky & Telescope was from the rear quarter showing the whole
    bottom of the capsule.  There are two poles angling aft and outward,
    though one is broken underneath the capsule.  I wondered if these were
    antennaes or probes to trigger the landing rockets.  The placards on the
    bottom are numbered one through five with a large number in the upper
    left corner of the placard, but the rest of the writing was not
    readable.
    
    
    Last weeks Av-Week also had some good pictures of the Soyuz re-entry
    capsule showing the forward end.  There were two photos taken from the
    left and right forward quarters.  These clearly show antennas extending
    from ports on either side of the capsule.
    
    I thought the ambiance in these photos was very homey.  Small crowd of
    locals looking on.  Looks like the recovery crew comes in a couple of
    helicopters and thats about it.  Do they send a truck out later to pick
    up the capsule?  I particularly got a kick out of the dog in one of the
    Av-Week photos.  All sorts of bad jokes suggest themselves but I'll
    resist.
    
    Mike H

    re:36
    
    What page was the TM3 in SKY & Telescope
    are you sure it was September issue,
    
    I can not find it
    thanks john

    Re:.41
    
    John,
    	I saw it on the second page of the book reviews but I think it was
    the October issue not the September issue.
    
    				Drew
    

Article: 47081
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: [email protected] (Dennis Newkirk)
Subject: Soyuz-Progress data
Organization: secure_comm
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1992 18:00:18 GMT
Sender: [email protected] (Net News)
 
Based on the interest in Russian space hardware, I threw together this
rough and brief description of the Soyuz TM and Progress M spacecraft.
This data was compiled from combined descriptions of the Soyuz, Soyuz
T and TM, Progress and Progress M.  The most up to date figures have
been used where available. 
 
The Soyuz consists of a near spherical orbital module, a bell shaped
reentry module and a service module.  Total spacecraft weight was
about 6850 kg..  Most of the Soyuz TM systems have backups, but
reentry systems, electrical, life support and hydraulic systems are
triple redundant.  Orbital storage lifetime has not been demonstrated
beyond about 6 months. 
 
Orbital Module - The forward third of the Soyuz is comprised of the
orbital module.  It is roughly spherical measuring  2.2 meters in
diameter and about 2.6 meters long, weighing about 1200 kg..  The
module serves as a sleeping quarters, laboratory, air lock and cargo
hold.  Soviet designers primarilly designed the orbital module to
serve as a docking adapter and airlock between the lunar module and
space stations.  The reentry module is not designed for depressurization. 

On the outside are rendezvous antennas and docking guidance antennas. 
The Kurs rendezvous system and computers enable the Soyuz to dock
with a space station while the station was at any relative attitude.  
Wrapped around the midsection of the module are radio and telemetry
antennas.  The orbital module is jettisoned after retrofire before
entry in to the atmosphere.  The Soyuz T version normally jettisoned
the module before reentry to increase payload capacity.  It decreased
the amount of fuel needed for the reentry burn by 10 percent.  Even
with these savings, after a normal renedzvous there was barely enough
propellant to perform a fly-around inspection of a Salyut before
docking.  The Soyuz TM retains this capability but after the Soyuz
TM-5 incident does not use it (see below). 
 
Reentry Module - The Soyuz reentry module comprised the middle element
of the spacecraft.  It weighs about 2800 kg. and is 2.2 meters long
and 2.3 meters in diameter.  Together with the orbital module the
internal habitable volume is 6.5 cubic meters.  The capsule was
designed to perform ballistic reentry from lunar distances which
resulted in from 10 to 16 gravities.  Pressure suits are worn for
launch and landing and should be worn for only for a few hours at a
time.  The suits provide 307 mm. Hg pressure in normal mode, and 200
mm. Hg in backup mode which is used when easier movement is needed. 
The Soviets claim that the suit could be doned and activated in about
30 seconds.  The suit weighs only about 10 kg. and can be used in
emergencies for crew transfers in open space, although this would
require umbilicals or the use of a small backpack to provide oxygen. 

The crew in the Soyuz was seated with the commander in the center, the
flight engineer on the right and the research cosmonaut on the left. 
The commander can fly the ship using two control sticks.  Recent
proposals included adding a remote control sticks and a improved
bubble window on the orbital module for improved docking capabilities.

The flight engineer is responsible for monitoring the life support
systems, computer and communications systems.  The periscope is the
primary means for viewing other spacecraft before docking.  The
periscope could be rotated and had a field of view of 15 degrees.  The
environmental system keeps the atmosphere at near Earth normal between
710 to 850 mm. pressure and 20 degrees C.  The air is chemically
filtered to remove carbon dioxide and absorb water from the air. 

Near the cosmonauts heads are the compartments for the emergency and
main parachute.  The capsule normally uses only a single large
parachute for landing. The parachutes weigh 140 kg., are 1000 square
meters.  Standard emergency supplies carried in the capsule are a
raft, 4500 calories food, medicine, a radio, flares, a knife and sea
life suits.  Behind the seats is the electronics bay and the reentry
module attitude control system.  The modules attitude control system
used hydrogen peroxide as propellant, and six 10 kg. thrusters.  The
capsules heatshield is made of an ablative composite material. 

On the outside of the capsule are the periscope, that is jettisoned
after retrofire, and an umbilical running to the service and the
orbital modules that is also jettisoned after retrofire.   Capsule
windows have jettisonable covers allowed cosmonauts look outside the
capsule after reentry.  When the parachute deploys at about 7000
meters altitude, the heatshield also separates to expose solid fuel
braking rockets and the landing radar.  The radar fires the landing
rockets at two meters altitude to soften the landing.  Landing speed
is normally less than three meters per second.  The capsule had three
light beacons, and protected radio antennas to help location by
recovery forces, since the capsule usually rolls onto its side after
landing.  Landing payload is about 140 kg using the origional flight
plan with orbital module seperation before retrofire. 
 
Service Module - The service module consistes of a pressurized section
for instrumentation and an unpressurized engine compartment.  It is
2.3 meters long, and 2.3 meters in diameter with a flared base 2.72
meters in diameter, and weighes about 2600 kg. fuelled.  Propulsion is
provided by a modified Salyut ODU engine system with a combined
propellant system for both main engine, backup engine and four
attitude thrusters using nitrogen tetroxide and UDMH.  The attitude
control system included a total of fourteen, 10 kg. thrust, attitude
control rockets and  eight, 1 kg. thrusters.  The attitude control
system could be used as a backup to the main engine to de-orbit the
spacecraft.   The service modules forward section was pressurized and
contained electrical components of the environmental, attitude
control, communication, propulsion systems and batteries.   The solar
arrays consist of folding segments and deploy to 10.6 meters end to
end length.  When on solo missions, the Soyuz is put into a slow spin
to keep the solar arrays in maximum sun light and expend the least
propellant.  There were also small thermal radiators at the base of
the arrays and radiators also ringed the service module in bands. 
 
Launch Abort System - The last component of the spacecraft is the
launch shroud and launch abort system consisting of a large solid
tractor rocket for use in aborts and a small solid rocket for 
sustaining thrust during an abort and normal seperation of the abort
system. 
 
Progress-M - The Progress is a highly modified version of the Soyuz,
used to automatically deliver cargo to the space stations.  The Soyuz
design was altered by replacing the capsule with a tankage section.  
The Progress spacecraft usually weighs about 7,000 kg., payload
capacity is 2400 kg. of which about 1000 kg. was maximum weight of
propellants, and 1400 kg. maximum orbital module cargo.  It is about 8
meters long and 2.7 meters diameter at the base.  Internal volume of
the cargo module is 7.6 cubic meters.  The design uses a Soyuz TM
service module, Kurs, and solar panels.  Capable of solo flight for up
to 30 days. Docked lifetime is 108 days. 

The orbital module also can be equipped with a NPO Energia return
capsule capable of carrying 100-150 kg..  The capusle is carried in
the orbital module and is used to replace the docking probe after
filling the Progress with trash, and the old probe.  The capsule is 60
cm. in diameter.  In the cargo section, pressure is maintained but
temperature varies from 3 to 30 degrees C during flight.  The Progress
can carry enough cargo to supply a station with two or three people
for three to six weeks.  A typical cargo consisted of 200 kg. of
water, 600 kg. of propellant, 250 kg. of food and 450 kg. of air. 
Propellant was transferred from the Progress to the station through
docking collar connections. The propellant tanks are also connected to
the Progress propulsion tanks so propellant unused during rendezvous
and docking can be transfered to the station. The lines in the docking
collar are purged with nitrogen after refueling, to prevent the fuel
and oxidizer residue from spilling out onto the station after undocking. 
 
Other facts:

Soyuz always have been fully rated to make water landings.  The Soyuz
23 flight to Salyut 5 was aborted and landed on Oct. 16, 1976, 8:47
P.M. in the 32 km. wide Lake Tengiz. They were not recovered until the
next day.  In addition, Zond 5 and 8 circumlunar versions of the Soyuz
made unplanned landings in the Indian Ocean and were recovered. 
Another Zond test apparently struck an ice covered lake and sank. 
 
Retrofire problems on Sept. 6, 1988 left the Soyuz TM-5 in orbit
without its reentry module for 26 hours.  The discomfort caused by
this meant that on future flights the orbital modules would by left on
until after retrofire so the crew can use its sanitary facilities,
food, water, and remove their pressure suits despite the costly payload
cuts required. 
                
Salyut and Mir stations have had exterior residue problems.  Progres
22 on July 15, 1984 made a 'clean' undocking.  Station solar array
degredation was suspected due to hits by thruster exhaust and residue.
They revised undocking procedures to delete seperation burns near the
station and rely on the docking collar springs to push the craft away.
I haven't heard if this is still practiced. 
 
Duration of Soyuz solo flights over a week: 

  Soyuz 9 - 18 days (long duration record breaker)
  Soyuz 13 - 8 days (substitute for failed Salyut stations)
  Soyuz 22 - 8 days (MKF-6 multispectral camera testing for Salyut 6)   
  Kosmos 869 - 18 days (unmanned - Soyuz T test flight) 
  Kosmos 1001 - 11 days (unmanned - Soyuz T test flight)
  Kosmos 1074 - 90 days (unmanned - Soyuz T test flight)
  {Zond circumlunar missions lasted about one week also.}
 
Dennis Newkirk ([email protected])
Motorola Inc, Land Mobile Products Sector
Schaumburg, IL