Mir Hardware Heritage: EO-4
Below is a description of Sergei’s first mission to Mir, EO-4, from the excellent NASA document, Mir Hardware Heritage, by David S. F. Portree, published in March 1995. You can download the document in PDF form (4 MB) at the NASA Shuttle-Mir Web. Sergei Krikalyov was one of those interviewed for it.
2.9.2 Mir Base Block Detailed Description and Notable Features
Sergei Krikalyov, who flew on the Space Shuttle Atlantis in February 1994 and spent two long-duration stints aboard Mir, made several statements comparing conditions on the U.S. Shuttle with those on Mir. In general, Krikalyov states that living conditions aboard Mir are more hospitable than those on the Shuttle. This he attributes to Mir’s being designed for long-duration flight, while the Shuttle is designed to support a crew for only short periods of time.
Krikalyov further stated that living conditions on the station depend heavily on the preferences of the resident crew. Krikalyov stated that levels of cleanliness and odors varied according to the standards the resident crew was willing to accept. Similarly, the level of clutter varied considerably. Krikalyov stated that, on his stays, Mir was kept relatively tidy. The crews he was part of attempted to keep unused equipment and supplies behind the wall panels, and attempted to avoid attaching netting full of equipment to the station’s ceiling.
2.9.3.5 Mir Principal Expedition 4
- Alexandr Volkov, Sergei Krikalyov, Valeri Polyakov
- Crew code name: Donbass
- Soyuz-TM 7, November 26, 1988-April 27, 1989
- 151 days in space
Polyakov remained on Mir with Volkov and Krikalyov when Titov and Manarov returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-6. Polyakov’s total stay time (part of Principal Expedition 3 and all of Principal Expedition 4) was 242 days.
November 28-December 21 1988
Mir as it appeared during Sergei’s first stay in 1988. The Kvant module (right) is docked to the Base Block. (Soyuz & Progress spacecraft omitted for clarity.)
Long French visit to Mir – the Franco-Soviet Aragatz mission begins. The arrival of Soyuz TM-6 with French cosmonaut Jean-Loup Chretien (on his second mission to a Soviet space station) and Soviet cosmonauts Alexander Volkov and Sergei Krikalyov increased Mir’s population to six. According to Krikalyov, this was the “worst-case scenario” as far as crowding on the station was concerned. Not only were there more cosmonauts than usual aboard Mir; the station was also full of equipment and life support supplies delivered by Progress freighters for the joint Franco-Soviet mission. The crowding was exacerbated because there was no docking port free for a Progress freighter. Therefore, the crew could not use a Progress as a “pantry” or “storage room” for the station. The large joint experiment manifest – mostly medical and technology experiments chosen to support the French-led European Space Agency Hermes shuttle project – strained Mir’s electricity supply. The total mass of the experiments was 580 kg.
French EVA. Preparations for the first EVA involving a non-Soviet/non-U.S. space traveler forced the cosmonauts to cut short a TV meeting with diplomats from 47 countries on December 8. On December 9 Chretien and Volkov depressurized the multiport docking adapter and clambered outside Mir. Chretien was first out. He installed handrails, then attached the 15.5 kg Enchantillons experiment rack to the handrails by springs and hooks. He also attached electrical wires leading from the rack to Mir’s power supply. Enchantillons carried five technological experiments with applications to the Hermes shuttle program. Volkov and Chretien then assembled the 240-kg ERA experiment. They attached a mount to handrails on the frustum linking the multiport docking unit to the small-diameter portion of the work compartment. After resolving problems with cables linking ERA to a control panel inside Mir, they attached the folded ERA structure to a support arm on the platform. The structure was designed to unfold to form a flat six-sided structure 1 m deep by 3.8 m across. From inside Mir, Krikalyov commanded the structure to unfold, but to no avail. Volkov then kicked ERA, causing it to unfold properly. According to Krikalyov, taking the ERA outside helped relieve the crowding problems. The EVA lasted 5 hr and 57 min.
The Aragatz mission ends. After the EVA, Titov and Manarov showed Krikalyov and Volkov the peculiarities of living and working on Mir. On December 15, their 359th day in space, Titov and Manarov officially beat Romanenko’s 326-day single-flight endurance record by the required 10%. On December 19, Soyuz TM-6 was powered up for descent. The spacecraft undocked on December 21. Titov, Manarov, and Chretien landed under low clouds, in sub-freezing temperatures, near Dzhezhkazgan in Kazakhstan.
February 12-March 3, 1989
D-module (Kvant-2) delayed. In mid-February the Soviets announced that launch of the D-module (also called the augmentation module, or Kvant-2) was the victim of delays in the production of the module to be added after it, the T-module (technology module, or Kristall). The D-module had been at Baikonur, awaiting launch, since July 1988, but the T-module would not be ready until December 1989, and the Soviets did not wish to let 3 months go by with Mir in an asymmetrical configuration (that is, with only one lateral port filled). Rather than handing over to another Principal Expedition crew, the Donbass cosmonauts would mothball Mir and return to Earth at the end of their stint.
EVAs cancelled. Krikalyov and Volkov had been trained to perform a total of six EVAs during Mir Principal Expedition 4. Krikalyov was to have been the first cosmonaut to fly the Soviet equivalent of the NASA manned maneuvering unit (MMU), the YMK. But delay of Kvant-2, which carried the YMK, pushed back the EVAs to the next Principal Expedition, the crew for which would consist of Krikalyov and Volkov’s backups.
Diagramma. The cosmonauts extended a 10m pole from the Mir base block’s small airlock. It carried sensors used as part of the Diagramma program to characterize the environment around Mir.
March 3-18, 1989
Antenna experiment. When Progress-40 backed away from Mir, it deployed an antenna consisting of two loops of wire, each 20 m across, from a pair of containers on either side of the Progress cargo module. The cosmonauts observed the deployment. During the 2 days before its destructive reentry, Progress-40 continued in free flight while characteristics of the antenna were assessed by the TsUP [Moscow Mission Control].
March 18-April 21, 1989
Mir mothballed. On April 10 Soviet reports had the cosmonauts beginning the process of preparing Mir for unmanned operation. Also during this period the cosmonauts replaced power supply units which were nearing the end of their design lives. Heightened solar activity led to some concern over the cosmonauts’ safety, but Soviet sources stated that radiation levels were not hazardous.
April 21-26, 1989
Soyuz TM-7 leaves Mir unstaffed. The engine on Soyuz TM-7 was used to boost the Mir complex to a new record mean altitude of 410 km in mid-April. Volkov, Krikalyov, and Polyakov then loaded Soyuz TM-7 with experiment results and film and returned to Earth. The landing was unusually rough because of high winds in the recovery zone. Krikalyov sustained a minor knee injury, though he downplayed its importance.