Mir Hardware Heritage: extracts
Below is a description of Sergei’s second mission to Mir, EO-9 (which was extended into the second mission, EO-10), 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.
2.9.3.10 Mir Principal Expedition 9
- Anatoli Artsebarski, Sergei Krikalyov
- Crew code name: Ozon
- Soyuz TM-12, May 18-October 11, 1991
- 145 days in space
May 20-May 26, 1991
Mir configuration during Sergei’s second stay. The Base Block is at center, Kvant at right, Kvant-2 at bottom and Kristall at top. (Soyuz & Progress spacecraft omitted for clarity.)
Arrival of Soyuz TM-12. The Derbents welcomed aboard Mir Anatoli Artsebarski, Sergei Krikalyov (on his second visit to the station), and British cosmonaut-researcher Helen Sharman, who was aboard as part of Project Juno, a cooperative venture partly sponsored by British private enterprise. Sharman’s experimental program, which was designed by the Soviets, leaned heavily toward life sciences. A bag of 250 000 pansy seeds was placed in the Kvant-2 EVA airlock, a compartment not as protected from cosmic radiation as other Mir compartments. Sharman also contacted nine British schools by radio and conducted high-temperature superconductor experiments with the Elektropograph-7K device. Sharman commented that she had difficulty finding equipment on Mir as there was a great deal more equipment than in the trainer in the cosmonaut city of Zvyozdny Gorodok. Krikalyov commented that, while Mir had more modules than it had had the first time he lived on boar d, it di d not seem less crowded, as it contained more equipment. Krikalyov also noted that some of the materials making up the station’s exterior had faded and lost color, but that this had had no impact on the station’s operation.
Solar power problems. During a communication session with a British girls’ school on May 21, Sharman commented that Mir was experiencing solar array problems because of the station’s changing orientation. Late that day the level of background noise on the station suddenly fell from the customary 75 decibels as fans, circulating pumps, and other equipment shut down. The lights began to fade. A computer in the orientation system had failed, preventing the solar arrays from tracking on the Sun, and causing Mir to drain its batteries. Sharman stated that Afanaseyev and Manarov told her such power problems had occurred before. When it reentered sunlight, the station was turned to recharge its batteries.
May 28-June 1, 1991
Moving Soyuz TM-12. The Ozons needed to move their spacecraft to Mir’s aft port to make way for Progress M-8, which could not dock with the rear port because of the damage to the Kurs approach system antenna there. The move required 42 min.
June 1-August 15, 1991
MAK-1. The cosmonauts released the small MAK-1 satellite from the Mir base block’s experiment airlock on June 17. It was designed to study Earth’s ionosphere. However, a probable power failure prevented its antennas from deploying, and the satellite remained inert.
First EVA: fixing Kurs. On June 24 the Ozons exited the hatch on Kvant-2 and clambered over Mir’s hull to the aft end of Kvant, where they removed the damaged Kurs approach system unit and replaced it. They also assembled a prototype thermomechanical joint to be used in the assembly of space structures. The EVA lasted 4 hr, 53 min.
Second EVA: TREK. On June 28 the cosmonauts attached to Mir’s hull the TREK instrument, a device for studying cosmic ray superheavy nuclei. The experiment was devised by the University of California and delivered by Progress M-8. The Ozons used the Strela telescoping boom to move about the station. EVA duration was 3 hr, 24 min.
Third EVA: Preparing for Sofora construction. On July 15 the Ozons used the Strela boom to transfer equipment from the Kvant-2 EVA hatch to the work site on Kvant. They attached two ladders to Kvant to give them handholds, then assembled a platform for Sofora on Kvant. Sofora was to be a 14.5-m girder extending from Kvant. The EVA lasted 5 hr, 56 min.
Fourth EVA: Sofora construction commences. On July 19 Krikalyov and Artsebarski installed an automated assembly unit similar to the one Kizim and Solovyov had experimented with on Salyut-7 in 1986. Sofora was also an experimental construction, but the Soviets had plans to attach an attitude control thruster unit to it if it functioned as expected. The thruster unit would augment Mir’s attitude control systems. They assembled 3 of 20 segments planned for Sofora before returning to Mir. The EVA lasted 5 hr, 28 min.
Fifth EVA: Sofora construction continues. On July 23 the Ozons added 11 segments to the Sofora girder. The EVA lasted 5 hr, 34 min.
Sixth EVA: Sofora construction completed. On July 27 the cosmonauts added the last six segments to the Sofora girder. They also attached a Soviet flag in a metal frame to the top of the girder. This was not planned in advance; the cosmonauts decided independently to attach the flag. Artsebarski’s visor fogged up from exertion, but Krikalyov was able to help him back to the Kvant-2 hatch. EVA duration was 6 hr, 49 min.
August 23-September 30, 1991
Failed coup d’état in Moscow. The coup against Mikhail Gorbachev had little immediate impact on Mir operations. Progress M-9 was launched as the coup attempt fell apart, on August 21. Boris Belitsky, a Radio Moscow space and science reporter, stated that the TsUP relayed broadcasts of Soviet Central TV (pro-coup) and Russian Radio (anti-coup) to the Ozons. He stated that there were never any plans to abandon the station during the coup, but revealed that such provisions existed in the event of the outbreak of a major war on Earth.
2.9.3.11 Mir Principal Expedition 10
- Alexandr Volkov, Sergei Krikalyov
- Crew code name: Donbass
- Soyuz TM-13, October 2, 1991-March 25, 1992
- 175 days in space
Krikalyov remained on board Mir while Artsebarski returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-12. Volkov arrived on Soyuz TM-13 to replace Artsebarski. Krikalyov’s total time in space (Principal Expedition 9 and 10) was 320 days.
October 4-10, 1991
Soyuz TM-13 arrives. Soyuz TM-13 carried Austrian cosmonaut-researcher Franz Viehboeck and Kazakh cosmonaut-researcher Toktar Aubakirov. The flight was unusual for carrying no flight engineer. Veteran Russian cosmonaut Alexandr Volkov commanded. The Austrians paid $7 million to fly Viehboeck to Mir, and the Kazakh cosmonaut flew partly in an effort to encourage newly-independent Kazakhstan to continue to permit launchings from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The cosmonaut-researchers photographed their respective countries from orbit and conducted the usual range of materials processing and medical experiments. Artsebarski traded places with Volkov and returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-12.
October 21, 1991-January 20, 1992
Impact damage. By this date the Mir base block had suffered orbital debris and meteoroid damage on the flat sealing surface of one of its docking rings and on most of its windows.
Progress M-10 aborts docking. The spacecraft broke off its first docking attempt on October 19 at a distance of 150 m. It successfully docked on October 21.
Cosmos 1897 drifts off station. The Altair/SR satellite drifted to 90° E in the geostationary belt by March. By late April the Soviets had maneuvered it back to 95° E, but by the end of 1991 it had drifted to 77° E and was widely considered inoperative. The other Altair/SR satellite, Cosmos 2054, continued to serve as a communications relay between Russia and Mir.
Diagramma. In October the cosmonauts extended a Diagramma boom from Mir’s small airlock to test the atmosphere around the station.
Mir problems. The cosmonauts ended 1991 by replacing storage batteries and conducting ongoing repairs on the complex. At the end of the year total solar array power production was down to 10 kW. In addition, 4 of 6 gyrodynes on Kvant-2 and 1 of 6 gyrodynes on Kvant (5 of Mir’s total of 12) had failed.
Progress M-10 undocking delayed. The spacecraft topped off Mir’s propellant tanks on January 13. Undocking planned for January 18 was postponed by a problem with the wiring of Mir’s gyrodynes, which affected the station’s attitude. When it undocked on January 20, it carried a Raduga return capsule, which was safely recovered.
January 27-March 13, 1992
Progress M-11. The spacecraft carried a repair kit for the station’s gyrodynes. During its approach to the station, flight controllers in the TsUP were on strike for higher rates of pay, but they did not interfere with the docking. Progress M-11 boosted the complex into a 413 km by 380 km orbit before undocking. Communication cutbacks. In January 1991 the fleet of ocean-going tracking ships in place since the early 1960s was phased out of Mir operations to save funds. Some of the ships continued to operate to support unmanned missions, and could step in as a backup when needed to support Mir. By mid-February, Mir was spending up to 9 hrs each day out of touch with the TsUP because of tracking system cutbacks.
EVA. On February 20 Volkov and Krikalyov opened the Kvant-2 EVA hatch for what would be Krikalyov’s seventh EVA in less than a year. The heat exchanger on Volkov’s Orlan-DMA spacesuit failed, forcing a hasty revision of the EVA plans. Volkov remained near the hatch, so could not operate the Strela boom to move Krikalyov to the prime work site on Kvant. Volkov assisted in installation of space exposure experiments near the hatch, then Krikalyov clambered down Kvant-2 and over the hull to Kvant. He disassembled equipment used in building the Sofora girder in July 1991, then cleaned the cameras on Kvant. Finally, he collected samples of solar cells added to the third (top) array on the base block in 1988. The EVA lasted 4 hr, 12 min.
2.9.3.12 Mir Principal Expedition 11
- Alexandr Viktorenko, Alexandr Kaleri
- Crew code name: Vityaz
- Soyuz TM-14, March 17-August 10, 1992
- 147 days in space
March 19-25, 1992
Soyuz TM-14 arrives… Klaus Dietrich Flade became the second German to visit a space station when he reached Mir with the Vityaz crew. The first was Sigmund Jahn of East Germany, who visited Salyut 6 in 1978. Flade conducted 14 German experiments as part of Germany’s preparation for participation in the Freedom and Columbus space station projects.
…and Krikalyov departs. Sergei Krikalyov was to have returned to Earth in October 1991, but moves to cut costs had forced modifications to his mission. A Soyuz TM flight was cancelled, and his replacement, Alexandr Kaleri, was bumped from the Soyuz TM-13 flight to make way for Toktar Aubakirov on the Soyuz TM-13 flight. Krikalyov had to remain on board Mir. Western news agencies had reported that Krikalyov was stranded on Mir, though this was of course incorrect. NPO Energiya paid Kazakh authorities $15 000 in rents for airports and helicopters during the recovery operation.