[sarex] Mir Status Aug 2, 1999, Equipment shutdown

["Miles Mann" <Miles_Mann@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Mir Amateur Radio Status: Aug 2, 1999

By Miles Mann WF1F,
MAREX-NA (Manned Amateur Radio Experiment, North American Division)

Mir's retirement date:

In 1995 the news media predicted Mir would burn up in 1996
In 1996 the news media predicted Mir would burn up in 1997
In 1997 the news media predicted Mir would burn up in 1998
In 1998 the news media predicted Mir would burn up in 1999

For over 4 years in a row the news media has been 100% wrong in predicting
when the Mir Space Station will be officially retired.

On  or  about  August  23, the current Mir crew will leave Mir for a temporary 6
month
closing  of  the  Space  Station  Mir.   The Mir station will fly unoccupied for
approximately 6 months until around
February 2000.   Then in February a new crew will arrive on Mir.
The  new crew has received funding for their training and all of the information
I
have  received  directly  from  Energia  indicates  the February flight is still
planned.
The current planned retirement date for the Space Station Mir is around
February 2001.

Computer Problem:
On Sunday August 1, Cosmonaut Jean-Piere informed me that the crew
had a minor  problem with their navigation computer.  The backup computer
was put on line and all systems were normal.

Amateur Radio Status while Mir is unoccupied.
The MAREX-NA team has been working closely with the MAREX-RU team at
Energia trying to determine if it will be possible to keep some of the Amateur
Radio equipment active while Mir is temporarily unoccupied.
We discussed several low power modes of operations tying to satisfy all of the
official safety requirements.
The  safety rules are quite clear.  If we can not remotely turn the equipment ON
and OFf
from  ground  control,  then  the equipment must be shutdown when the station is
closed.
We at MAREX-NA understand that the safety of the station is more important
than the Amateur Radio equipment.  And we agree with the decision to turn off
all  of  the  Amateur  Radio  equipment  on  Mir while the station is temporally
closed.

The  following  Amateur  Radio  projects  on Mir will be power off and de-cabled
during the
week of August 16th.
SAFEX/MAREX-NA Personal Message System (PMS)
MAREX-NA Slow Scan TV system
SAFEX Repeater

The  equipment  is  expected  to  be  turned  back  on again when the station is
reoccupied
in February 2001.



************************************************

Current Mir Crew Members:
SOYUZ TM-29 arrived at Mir on February 20, 1999.  Mir Soyuz TM-29 crew consisted
of  French  cosmonaut  Jean-Pierre  Heignere,  Viktor  Afanasyev  and  Slovakian
Cosmonaut Ivan Bella
On February 28, some of the crew returned to earth, they were:
Slovak Ivan Bella and Gennadiy Paldalko.
Gennadiys  mission  lasted  approximately 6 months (August 16 1998 ? February 28
1999)

The remaining crew consists of:

The French cosmonaut Jean-Pierre Heignere (aprox 6 months)
Cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev (aprox 6 months)
Cosmonaut  Sergei  Avdeyev.   Sergei mission began August 16, 1998 and will end
on August 23, 1999.  On this Mission Sergei spent just over 1 full year on board
the Mir Space Station.
On June 20, 1999, Sergej broke the worlds record for Total-Time-In-Space.
Sergei has spent over two full years in space when you combine all the time from
all of his missions together.

Tracking Mir:
For current tracking data, try the CelesTrak web page at http://celestrak.com/

Copyright  1999  Miles  Mann,  All Rights Reserved.  This document may be freely
distributed via the following means - Email (including listservers), Usenet, and
World-Wide-Web.   It may not be reproduced for profit including, but not limited
to,  CD  ROMs,  books,  and/or  other  commercial  outlets without prior written
consent from the author.
Images  received  from the MAREX-NA SSTV system on the Russian Space Station Mir
are  considered  public  domain  and  may  be  freely distributed, without prior
permission.

DOSVIDANIYA Miles WF1F


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