MIRNEWS.483 17 September 2000
Shape and contents of this MIR-message
deviate from those published before 17.06.2000. Those MIR-reports
largely depended on the radio-conversations between the crews and
flight control (TsUP) in Moscow.
The MIR complex continues to orbit earth as
if nothing has happened. The fact that MIR is unmanned enabled me to
visit some cradles of MIR in Moscow. As of 10.09 until 16.09 I lived
in Zvyozdnyy Gorodok, so near TsPK, the Training Centre of
Cosmonauts. Physically it is impossible to visit all institutes, KB-s
(construction bureaus), factories, facilitairy stations etc. , which
directly or indirectly were or are related to MIR: in fact there are
hundreds of them.
During our stay, Bert Vis was my
travelling-companion, we enjoyed the opportunities offered to us to
visit some of the most important institutes and we could did this in
a way strongly differing from the usual excursions with groups.
Everywhere we were invited as expert guests and the treatment we
experienced was in accordance to that.
About MIR:
One of our visits was at TsUP near Moscow.
TsUP is still involved in a number of satellite operations of which
the 2 most important are the control of the MIR complex and
though for a part together with the American TsUP in
Houston- of the ISS. The sections for MIR and the ISS at TsUP operate
fully separated: for MIR the old room (well-known from the media) is
in use and for ISS the modified room originally built for Buran is in
use.
During our visit the MIR station came in
reach of the tracking facility in Shcholkovo and from that moment on
just a few of the operational positions on the ground floor, were
occupied by specialists. From the telemetry on their screens they
analysed the for them relevant data. Like in the past the orbit and
position of the complex could be seen on a world map and we could
read elements like AOS and LOS and which tracking facilities were
active. From conversations with insiders we could conclude that
the tracking stations are still staffed by military personel and that
in this way the Russian state supports the exploration of MIR.
We thouroughly discussed the future of the
station, with specialists as well as with cosmonauts and in this way
we got on the spot information about dramatical changes in the plans
thusfar.
Originally 2 Main Expeditions (ME) were
scheduled for the beginning of 2001: ME29 with the crew Sharipov and
Vinogradov to be followed by the relief crew of ME30, consisting of
the cosmonauts Musabayev and Baturin and the tourist &ndas;yso
definitely not a cosmonaut- the American citizen Denis Tito. The
knowledge of the Russian language of Tito is very poor and to convert
him into a cosmonaut within the period of a few months is a
“mission impossible”. We met the group of young
cosmonauts and this made that clear for us. Meanwhile Tito paid 22
million US-dollars of a promised 50 million. This is not enough for
the execution of 2 expeditions to MIR. Tito returned to TsPK on the
14th or 15th of September, but regretfully we did not meet him.
Now the decision has been made to appoint the
original ME30 crew for the first and only ME to MIR, so in that case
this will be ME29, consisting of Musabayev, Baturin and Tito.
The launch date of their ship, Soyuz-TM31,
has been set for 18.01.2001 and the duration of the flight will be 14
or 10 days.
The logic of this decision is that Musabayev
and Baturin speak English very well and so they can at least chat
with their passenger.
In the week after our arrival we got this
information from some well informed sources and on the day of our
departure we met Musabayev who confirmed this.
About ISS:
The number of operators in the ISS-control
room was also poor. Some TV-camera crews were walking about. The
orbit and position of ISS could be seen on a monitor and the details
of the communication windows were visible (AOS, LOS, etc.)
Malenchenko and Ed Lu were doing their EVA and pictures were showed
on a big screen. TsUP Moscow passively experienced the EVA-operation,
for Houston was in charge and the communications took place by the
use of TDRS-es. We hope that this passiveness of TsUP-M now and then
will be interchanged by active participation in the ISS flight
control, but we fear the worst.
Our excursions etc.:
During the rest of the week we visited
facilities like OKB Mashinostroyeniye, the former OKB-52 of the
famous, but regretfully overshaded by the glories and fame of
Korolyov, Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomei. In fact Chelomei was the
real founder of the Russian space stations, Almaz, Salyuts and
without him MIR’s history would be different, not to speak
about the actual Zarya en Zvezda. At Mashinostroyeniye we saw two
real Almaz stations, the TKS , transportship for the Almazy and a
real Polyot., the first satellite that was able to manoeuvre in
space. Our visiti inside one of those Almazy was a revelation: what a
room and what a perfect ergonomy. But regretfully we had to keep our
camera’s in our covers. A photographer of the OKB had got
orders to make pictures: he shot 12 pictures of which
“security” accepted only 4, 2 of which on the
premises outside &ndas;ymonuments- and 2 inside of us covering
the most part of the TKS and of Almaz we saw a little piece of the
hull while we fully shaded off the Polyot in the background.
The attitude towards our own photography of
the State Research and Production Space Center Khrunichev was much
better: we were not allowed to make photo’s of all objects,
but were free to shoot pictures of the Proton under construction. We
were standing on historical soil for until 1926 (the treaty of
Versailles prohibited this on German territory) German aircraft were
constructed and tested on the aerodrome here. So that what destroyed
Rotterdam and Coventry in 1940 was prepared in Russia by the German
specialists of General von Seeckt. But in fact a few years later the
Soviet Union herself got in that way a biscuit of own paste.
We had personal contacts with a lot of old
and young cosmonauts. The visit to the TsPK itself was very good: we
saw Shepard and Gidzenko training in repairing something at the
outersurface of Zarya in the underwater tank and in the training hall
for the Soyuzy Sergey Krikalyov was trying to dock his ship with ISS,
while the ISS-2 expedition (Bowersox, Dezhurov and Tyulin) did the
same in a second training module. And when you with a lot of other
thinks can sit behind a real TORU, you have reason to be really
satisfied.
A highlight during my stay was a one and a
half hour lasting conversation with the famous professor
B.Ye.Chertok, a constructor from far before W W 2, who participated
in all devolopments of Sputniks, Vostoks, Voskhods, Salyuts,
Molniya’s etc. A lot of the subjects discussed were very
interesting for me: communication systems and procedures, electronic
docking systems, for instance Kontakt, Igla, Kurs and even the brand
new Kurs-MM. Chertok a strong man of 88 years, sustained the siege of
my questions very well. As soon as I can find some time I will draft
a summing up.
And finally:
On 15.09 General P.I. Klimuk, head of TsPK,
just returned from Amerika, found 10 minutes in the late afternoon to
receive me and Bert. We expressed our gratitude that we had been
permitted to stay in Zvyozdnyy and he told us that he appreciated our
work en our positive attitude towards Russsian spaceflight.
Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.
