February 11
Mir/Soyuz-TM 9 PE-6 launch
February 19
Mir/Soyuz-TM 8 PE-5 landing
February 28–March 4
STS-36/Atlantis
April 24–29
STS-31/Discovery
July 17
1990 EVA 6
World EVA 82 Russian EVA 31 Space Station EVA 39
Duration: 7:00 Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-6 Crew: Anatoli Solovyov, Alexandr Balandin Spacewalkers: Anatoli Solovyov, Alexandr Balandin Purpose: Repair damaged thermal blankets on Soyuz TM-9
Soyuz-TM 9 arrived at Mir in tatters, with thermal blankets on its descent module flapping loosely about their forward attachment points. Without the blankets, the temperature inside the spacecraft fell, so condensation threatened to form on sensitive electronics. Temperature extremes threatened the heatshield and pyrotechnics, and the loose blankets obscured sensors used to orient the craft for reentry. After more than 150 days on Mir, PE-6 cosmonauts Solovyov and Balandin donned the Orlan-DMA space suits, entered the Kvant 2 airlock carrying ladders and tools, and depressurized the SALC to go EVA to repair Soyuz-TM 9. No EVA had been scheduled for PE-6. According to I. Vostrikov, deputy general designer at the Salyut Design Bureau, which built Kvant 2, Solovyov and Balandin then violated Kvant 2 airlock egress procedure. The cosmonauts were supposed to turn a handwheel until a 1-to-2-mm (0.04-to-0.08-in) slit opened around the lip of the hatch opening, allowing residual air to escape. Before they turned the handwheel further, releasing retaining hooks so that they could push back the hatch, they were supposed to confirm that the airlock was in vacuum using a handheld measuring device. Solovyov and Balandin turned the handwheel too far, releasing the hooks prematurely. Air pressure within the lock remained at 5 kpascal (0.74 psi) so the hatch sprang back against its hinges with a force of 400 kg (880 lb). Flight Engineer Balandin exited first. Traversing Kvant 2's 13.73-m (45-ft) length required longer than expected - about 90 min. The cosmonauts quipped after the EVA that they had plenty of handholds, but needed street signs. They rested during orbital night passes. Three hr passed before the cosmonauts finished installing a straight ladder bridging the gap between Kvant 2 and Soyuz-TM 9, and a curved ladder to the heatshield and explosive bolts. The mood in the TsUP was tense, in part because controllers could not see the cosmonauts - the TV camera cables were not long enough to reach the worksite. Solovyov and Balandin videotaped the descent module for later playback to the TsUP. The cosmonauts detected no obvious damage to the explosive bolts and heatshield. They then folded two of the thermal blankets in half, but left the third alone. By this time more than 5 hr had passed, so they hastened back to the Kvant 2 hatch, leaving ladders and tools at the worksite. They entered the Kvant 2 airlock after exceeding the 6-hr Orlan-DMA safety limit, only to find that the hatch would not close. They used the Kvant 2 instrument-science compartment (ISC) as a contingency airlock, leaving the SALC in vacuum. Soviet officials stated that the ISC could be used to extend the main airlock compartment for transferring large equipment outside the Mir station. This remains the longest Russian spacewalk to date.
Moscow Television Service, July 17, 1990. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, October 5, 1990, (JPRS-USP-90-004), pp. 1-2; Moscow Television Service, July 18, 1990. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, October 5, 1990 (JPRS-USP-90-004), p. 2; Moscow Domestic Service in Russian, July 19, 1990. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, October 5, 1990 (JPRS-USP-90-004), p. 2; Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, October 5, 1990 (JPRS-USP-90-004), p. 3; "Spacewalk to Repair Damaged Hatch," Neville Kidger, Spaceflight, October 1990, p. 349; The Soviet Year in Space 1990, Nicholas Johnson, Kaman Sciences, 1991, pp. 103, 109-110. Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, David S. F. Portree, March 1995, pp. 56, 122.
July 25
1990 EVA 7
World EVA 83 Russian EVA 32 Space Station EVA 40
Duration: 3:31 Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-6 Crew: Anatoli Solovyov, Alexandr Balandin Spacewalkers: Anatoli Solovyov, Alexandr Balandin Purpose: Investigate damaged Kvant 2 hatch; attempt to close and seal
Playback of the videotape made by Solovyov and Balandin and detailed post-EVA debriefing convinced engineers that Soyuz-TM 9 was in excellent condition to return to Earth. Before the cosmonauts could safely undock, however, they had to remove ladders and tools they left near Soyuz-TM 9 after their July 17 EVA. In addition, engineers wanted them to inspect the Kvant 2 hatch. A Soviet state commission authorized the cosmonauts to work outside the station for up to 9 hr if required. On this date the cosmonauts depressurized the Kvant 2 ISC and moved through the unpressurized airlock into space. First they televised images of the damaged hatch to the TsUP. One hinge was obviously deformed. Then they moved to the Soyuz-TM 9 worksite - more easily this time - and removed the ladders, stowing them on Kvant 2's hull. Meanwhile, engineers in the TsUP sought a means of closing the hatch. Despite difficulty in gaining sufficient leverage, Balandin and Solovyov forced the hatch shut. They repressurized the SALC and ISC, sealed themselves in the latter, and doffed their suits, leaving the hatch to the airlock compartment closed. After 24 hr, the external airlock hatch showed no leakage, so the TsUP gave Solovyov and Balandin permission to leave open the hatch connecting the airlock to the rest of the station. On August 4, as Balandin and Solovyov handed off Mir to the PE-7 crew of Strekalov and Manakov, Radio Moscow World Service quoted former cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov, head of the Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City, as saying that a single EVA would be sufficient to repair the hatch. Shatalov said this in part to placate Mir's critics, who pointed out that repairs consumed much of the cosmonauts' time, decreasing time available for productive research.
Moscow Television Service, July 25, 1990. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, October 5, 1990 (JPRS-USP-90-004), p. 3; Moscow Television Service in Russian, July 26, 1990. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, October 5, 1990 (JPRS-USP-90-004), pp. 3-4. Izvestiya, July 28, 1990, p. 1. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, October 5, 1990 (JPRS-USP-90-004), pp. 8; The Soviet Year in Space 1990, Nicholas Johnson, 1991, pp. 110-112; Moscow World Service in English, August 4, 1990. In JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, October 5, 1990 (JPRS-USP-90-004), p. 6.
August 1
Mir/Soyuz-TM 10 PE-7 launch
August 9
Mir/Soyuz-TM 9 PE-6 landing
October 6–10
STS-41/Discovery
October 29
1990 EVA 8
World EVA 84 Russian EVA 33 Space Station 41
Duration: 2:45 Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-7 Crew: Gennadi Manakov, Gennadi Strekalov Spacewalkers: Gennadi Manakov, Gennadi Strekalov Purpose: Repair damaged Kvant 2 hatch
The Kvant 2 airlock hatch repair spacewalk was postponed from October 19 when Strekalov came down with a cold, but finally began late on this date. Strekalov and Manakov used a specially designed tool to remove insulation from the outside of the airlock hatch, revealing that the hinge was damaged beyond their ability to repair. They attached a special latch to ensure adequate closure and retreated inside. A scheduled EVA to prepare for transfer of solar arrays from Kristall to Kvant was postponed until after the next Principal Expedition crew could replace the hinge.
Moscow Television Service in Russian, October 30, 1990. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space (JPRS-USP-90-005), p. 6; The Soviet Year in Space 1990, Nicholas Johnson, Kaman Sciences, 1991, pp. 114; Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, David S. F. Portree, March 1995, pp. 127.
November 15–20
STS-38/Atlantis
December 2–10
STS-35/Columbia
December 2
Mir/Soyuz-TM 11 PE-8 launch
December 10
Mir/Soyuz-TM 10 PE-7 landing
1991
January 7
1991 EVA 1
World EVA 85 Russian EVA 34 Space Station EVA 42
Duration: 5:18 Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-8 Crew: Viktor Afanaseyev, Musa Manarov Spacewalkers: Viktor Afanaseyev, Musa Manarov Purpose: Repair damaged Kvant 2 hatch; prepare to transfer of Kristall's solar arrays to Kvant
Soyuz-TM 11 delivered Afanaseyev and Manarov, the eighth Mir Principal Expedition crew, to Mir's front port on December 4, 1990. They brought with them a replacement hinge for the Kvant 2 airlock hatch. The cosmonauts underwent a medical exam as part of their EVA preparations on January 3. On this date - Christmas Day in the Russian Orthodox religious calendar - the cosmonauts gave engineers and flight controllers in the TsUP a present by successfully replacing the hinge damaged six months earlier during PE-6. The work was described as "very complex and very delicate" because the hinge was not designed for EVA replacement. The replacement hinge was designed to be installed by weightless cosmonauts working in pressure suits with EVA tools. The EVA was scheduled to last 4 hr, 20 min. Four hr into the EVA Afanaseyev and Manarov entered the SALC and closed and sealed the hatch to check their work, then reopened it and egressed to carry out other EVA tasks. These included moving parts and equipment for the upcoming solar array transfer EVA to Kvant 2's exterior; removing a camera from the Kvant 2 "video spectrum complex" (the Gemma-2 unit for Earth environment monitoring) for repair inside Mir; and removing for return to Earth a space exposure cassette of superconductive materials.
TASS in English, December 29, 1990. In JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, February 7, 1991 (JPRS-USP-91-001), p. 12; TASS International Service in Russian, January 8, 1991. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, February 7, 1991 (JPRS-USP-91-001), p. 13; "New Crew Launched to Mir," Neville Kidger, Spaceflight, March 1991, p. 96; 1991-1992 Europe & Asia in Space, Nicholas Johnson and David Rodvold, U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory, 1993, pp. 62-63.
January 23
1991 EVA 2
World EVA 86 Russian EVA 35 Space Station EVA 43
Duration: 5:33 Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-8 Crew: Viktor Afanaseyev, Musa Manarov Spacewalkers: Viktor Afanaseyev, Musa Manarov Purpose: Install Strela boom
Afanaseyev and Manarov installed the 45-kg (99-lb) telescoping Strela boom on a Mir base block launch shroud attachment. Strela ("arrow") was installed primarily for moving the 500-kg (1100-lb) solar arrays on Kristall to new locations on Kvant, but would also be used for moving cosmonauts and equipment around Mir's exterior and as a mobile handrail. The task was originally scheduled to occur over two EVAs. This EVA lasted almost 2 hr longer than planned, but concluded with Strela entirely installed. To test the device, Manarov rode the end of the boom while Afanaseyev operated its cranks. Before closing out the EVA the cosmonauts removed the Ferrit space exposure experiment from Kvant 2 and replaced it with the Sprut-5 device for measuring particle flow near Mir.
1991-1992 Europe & Asia in Space, Nicholas Johnson and David Rodvold, U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory, 1993, pp. 63; Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP 1357, David S. F. Portree, March 1995, p. 128.
January 26
1991 EVA 3
World EVA 87 Russian EVA 36 Space Station EVA 44
Duration: 6:20 Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-8 Crew: Viktor Afanaseyev, Musa Manarov Spacewalkers: Viktor Afanaseyev, Musa Manarov Purpose: Install support structures on Kvant for Kristall solar arrays
The cosmonauts installed two supports for the Kristall solar arrays on either side of Kvant. They worked near the Kvant Kurs system antenna, which was used to guide Progress-M and Soyuz-TM spacecraft during docking at the Mir complex aft port. They also installed laser retroreflectors.