Tim Furniss/LONDON
The Progress M35 unmanned cargo craft is scheduled to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan around 10 July in the first phase of an operation to restore conditions to near-normal aboard the Russian Mir space station. The launch follows the collision on 25 June of the M34 tanker with the station's Spektr module.
The M34, which had detached from the Mir, was undergoing a routine practice re-docking under manual direction from inside the station, when it went out of control, approaching the station too quickly. A similar situation with the previous Progress occurred in March, but the cosmonauts were able to fire the tanker's thrusters to avoid what apparently would have been a much worse collision.
The M35 will be used to deliver equipment, consumables and personal effects to the two Russian and one US crew. The equipment will include material to support a spacewalk outside the Spektr module to inspect the damage caused by the collision and, if possible, undertake repairs to a damaged solar panel.
The Spektr's four solar panels provided 50% of the station's power, but the power loss was caused largely by the need to disconnect the electrical cables in the Spektr to allow the module's hatch to be sealed after the leak had been discovered.
The Russian crew, Vasily Tsiblyev and Alexander Lazutkin, will attempt to re-route cables from the three undamaged panels to the Mir's core module. Alternatively, they could enter the depressurised Spektr to reconnect electrical cables inside it to the other Mir module systems, to restore full electrical power. This will only be possible if they can find a way of passing the cables through the sealed airlock or routing them around it. There is also a deployed solar panel on the Kvant 1 module.
The Spektr is considered a write-off for the time being. It holds 50% of the US equipment operated by NASA astronaut Michael Foale. Although under consideration, a repair to the estimated 300mm2 (0.465in2) hole near the Spektr's radiator seems unlikely at present.
Unless reasonable electrical power can be restored, it is unlikely that the planned launch of a Soyuz TM 26, with a replacement Russian crew and a visiting Frenchman, will proceed on 8 August. The Mir needs to be fully functional to support a crew of six.
The planned seventh Shuttle-Mir Mission, by the STS86 Atlantis, scheduled for September could be brought forward a month, to deliver emergency repair and other equipment and to assist in restoring the station. Its crew includes Russian Vladimir Titov, who has spent a year on the Mir, and French astronaut Jean Loup Chretien. Both are experienced spacewalkers.
Despite calls to NASA to stop the Mir co-operation, the space agency and the Russian Space Agency are keen to solve the problem as it demonstrates the kind of operational situations that can be expected to arise on a routine basis on the International Space Station.
The crew is in no immediate danger. There is a Soyuz TM ferry attached to provide immediate evacuation if needed.
Source: Flight International
