Dezhurov and Strekalov closed hatches leading to the Mir base block, Kvant 2, Kristall, and Spektr (which docked at the Mir front port on June 1), depressurized the transfer compartment, and moved Konus #2 to the -Y port so Spektr could be relocated there. (The new module was pivoted into place on June 3.) On June 5 two Spektr arrays were deployed. One failed to open fully, producing 20 percent less electricity than expected. The Russians announced plans to mount an unrehearsed EVA on June 15 to fully open the array ahead of Atlantis' docking with Mir. The EVA was rescheduled to June 16, then canceled because Strekalov refused to take part. He contended that the EVA was unnecessary and made hazardous by inadequate preparation. Rookie Commander Dezhurov argued with Strekalov, but the veteran flight engineer was adamant. After they returned to Earth, Dezhurov and Strekalov were each fined the equivalent of $9000—15 percent of the fee they had contracted to receive for the mission. The amount of electrical power available was judged sufficient for Atlantis' STS-71 docking with Mir, however.
MirNews 263, Chris Vandenberg, June 15, 1995; MirNews 264, Chris Vandenberg, June 17, 1995; question-and-answer session with Baumann Moscow State Technical University graduate cosmonauts, Baumann Institute, Moscow, Russia, April 11, 1996; "Star Brothers Fined $9000," Kosomolskaya Pravda, October 28, 1995, p. 1 (translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, Central Eurasia: Space, FBIS-UST-95-048, November 30, 1995, p. 50); "Historic Mir Docking," Neville Kidger, Spaceflight, August 1995, pp. 274.
June 27-July 7
STS-71/Atlantis (Shuttle-Mir 1)
July 13-22
STS-70/Discovery
July 14
1995 EVA 7 World EVA 131 Russian EVA 64 Space Station EVA 72
Duration: 5:34
Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-19
Crew: Anatoli Solovyov, Nikolai Budarin Spacewalkers: Anatoli Solovyov, Nikolai Budarin
Purpose: Inspect -Z port; manually deploy malfunctioning Spektr solar array
Solovyov and Budarin arrived aboard Mir on STS-71, spelling Dezhurov, Strekalov, and Thagard, who returned to Earth on the Shuttle. Planned duration of this first PE-19 EVA was 5 hr, 15 min. The cosmonauts inspected the -Z port where Kristall was to be relocated for leaks and found nothing out of the ordinary. The transfer compartment had experienced an unexplained slow pressure loss a month before. Solovyov and Budarin then used Strela to reach the balky Spektr array, which they succeeded in opening using a NASA-built tool. Small lateral array sections remained oriented 90 deg from planned final position, but the electricity lost was judged insignificant and the Spektr array repair declared complete. The cosmonauts then moved to Kvant 2, where they inspected an antenna and a malfunctioning solar array drive motor.
"Three EVAs for Mir Duo," Neville Kidger, Spaceflight, September 1995, p. 311.
July 19
1995 EVA 8 World EVA 132 Russian EVA 65 Space Station EVA 73
Duration: 3:08
Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-19
Crew: Anatoli Solovyov, Nikolai Budarin Spacewalkers: Anatoli Solovyov, Nikolai Budarin
Purpose: Install MIRAS infrared spectrometer; retrieve TREK detector
The planned 5-hr, 38-min EVA to install the Mir Infrared Atmospheric Spectrometer (MIRAS) was cut short because the cooling system in Commander Solovyov's Orlan-DMA suit failed, forcing him to remain linked by an umbilical to the cooling system in the Kvant 2 airlock. Flight Engineer Budarin prepared equipment for MIRAS installation on the next EVA. He also retrieved the U.S.-built TREK detector from Kvant 2's surface. TREK, placed on Kvant 2 during a 1991 EVA, was originally scheduled for return to Earth in 1993, but this was postponed because of more pressing EVA demands. The cosmonauts had difficulty closing the airlock hatch. The 220-kg (484-lb), 2.5-m-long (8.2-ft-long) Belgian-French-Russian MIRAS was originally designed for a 1995 launch on the exterior of the Mir-2 space station core module. After the Mir-2 program was combined with NASA's station program in 1993, MIRAS was modified for launch inside the Spektr module and subsequent EVA installation on Spektr's exterior. Modifications included splitting the device into two parts and reducing its diameter so it could fit through Mir's passageways.
"Three EVAs for Mir Duo," Spaceflight, September 1995, p. 311; "EVAs, Station Changes Keep Cosmonauts Busy," James Asker, Aviation Week & Space Technology, July 24, 1995, pp. 62-63; MirNews 266, Chris Vandenberg, July 17, 1995; "A Mir Matter of Change," L. van den Abeelen, Spaceflight, August 1995, p. 273; "Space shuttle to pick up package for UC Berkeley Physicists," UC Berkeley press release, November 8, 1995.
July 21
1995 EVA 9 World EVA 133 Russian EVA 66 Space Station EVA 74
Duration: 5:35
Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-19
Crew: Anatoli Solovyov, Nikolai Budarin Spacewalkers: Anatoli Solovyov, Nikolai Budarin
Purpose: Install MIRAS infrared spectrometer
Solovyov and Budarin repaired Solovyov's suit in consultation with Zvezda engineers and immediately began preparations for another EVA to install MIRAS. The cosmonauts attached the MIRAS package to Strela, then Budarin maneuvered both Solovyov and MIRAS to the worksite on Spektr. The cosmonauts needed about 2 hr to install MIRAS using three clamps. French engineers claimed that assembling the two-part instrument was "the most complex operation ever carried out during EVA." The cosmonauts completed their work early, but controllers in the TsUP received no data from the instrument. While Solovyov and Budarin stood by outside Mir, controllers traced the problem to Spektr's data transmission system. The cosmonauts corrected the problem and MIRAS began returning data. Early in this EVA Solovyov broke Krikalev's 1992 record for total career EVA time. By the time he returned to the Kvant 2 SALC his total was 41 hr, 49 min.
"Three EVAs for Mir Duo," Spaceflight, September 1995, p. 311; MirNews 268, Chris Vandenberg, July 22, 1995; "MIRAS O.K. After EVA Suspense," Theo Pirard, Spaceflight, November 1995, p. 370; presentation by Anatoli Solovyov, JSC Open House, August 24, 1996.
September 3
Soyuz-TM 22/Mir PE-20 launch
September 7
STS-69/Endeavour launch
September 11
Soyuz-TM 21/Mir PE-19 landing
September 16
1995 EVA 10 World EVA 134 U.S. EVA 68 Shuttle EVA 30
Duration: 6:46
Spacecraft/mission: STS-69
Crew: David Walker, Kenneth Cockrell, James Voss, James Newman, Michael Gernhardt Spacewalkers: James Voss, Mike Gernhardt
Purpose: Practice space station assembly and maintenance tasks; evaluated EMU thermal improvements
The second EDFT EVA was also the 30th EVA of the Space Shuttle program. Voss and Gernhardt readied their EMUs to support a Wake Shield Facility contingency EVA, but none was required. Suit checkout lasted 2 hr, 26 min, and prebreathe time was increased from 40 min to 50 min because cabin depressurization to 70.3 kpascal (10.2 psi) occurred less than 24 hr ahead of the EVA. Pilot Kenneth Cockrell served as IV crewman. Sensors on their boots and PLSS backpacks recorded temperatures. Astronauts installed thermal cube sensors on the RMS; other sensors recorded the temperature on a task board on the starboard side of the payload bay. The task board allowed the astronauts to test EVA tools on space station hardware. Voss and Gernhardt took turns removing ISS-type micrometeoroid/orbital debris shields and insulation blankets from the board; they also tested power tools on typical space station fasteners and manipulated ORU boxes, an antenna boom, electrical conduits, and tethers while restrained and free floating. Astronauts graded each task for difficulty. When not working at the task board, each astronaut was cold-soaked 9.1 m (30 ft) over the payload bay for 45 min while doing repetitive tool-handling tasks. Their gloves had fingertip heaters powered by 3.7v lithium batteries. Suit improvements meant that the astronauts stayed comfortably warm. Voss and Gernhardt also tested new EMU helmet lights, footholds, handholds, tethers, and the ECC.
STS-69 Space Shuttle Mission Report, December 1995; "Successful EVA, Landing Cap Troubled Shuttle Flight," Aviation Week & Space Technology, September 25, 1995, pp. 118-119; Space Shuttle Mission STS-69 Press Kit, August 1995, p. 42; "NASA's Two-Satellite Mission," Roelof Schuiling, Spaceflight, December 1995, p. 419.
September 18
STS-69/Endeavour landing
October 20
1995 EVA 11 World EVA 135 ESA EVA 1/Russian EVA 67 Space Station EVA 75
Duration: 5:11
Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-20
Crew: Yuri Gidzenko, Sergei Avdeyev, Thomas Reiter Spacewalkers: Thomas Reiter, Sergei Avdeyev
Purpose: Perform first ESA EVA; install experiments on Spektr
On October 6, the Russian Space Agency (RSA), ESA, and RKK Energia agreed to extend the Euromir 95/PE-20 mission by 44 days (from 135 days to 179 days) because of Russian financial problems and a shortage of Soyuz launch vehicles. Extending the mission shifted Principal Expedition 21 launch processing costs to FY 1996. The crew was advised of a possible extension before launch. Despite some reports, indications are that they welcomed the extension, not least because RSA offered ESA a second EVA for Reiter. On this first EVA by an ESA astronaut, Reiter led the way out the Kvant 2 hatch. In addition to being a guest-researcher, he was the first cosmonaut from outside the former Soviet Union to earn the title "Flight Engineer." This made the EVA the first by two flight engineers. Reiter climbed onto the end of the Strela boom, then Avdeyev handed him the payload bag, moved him to Spektr, and used Strela as a handrail to join him. The cosmonauts crawled to the opposite side of Spektr to reach the European Space Exposure Facility (ESEF)-1. Reiter threaded a tether from the payload bag through wire loops attached to pins on ESEF-1, then pulled the tether to release covers, exposing four attachment sites. The cosmonauts installed two dust collectors, a space environment monitoring package, and a control electronics box. The dust collectors had motorized covers operable from within Mir. One of the dust collectors remained open at all times unless a Shuttle, Soyuz-TM, or Progress-M was near the station, then it was closed to avoid spacecraft thruster contamination. The other was opened only when Earth passed through dust left behind by comets. Commander Yuri Gidzenko powered up the ESEF-1 instrument from inside Mir and verified that it was functioning as expected. Reiter and Avdeyev then moved to a second worksite 2 m (6.6 ft) away from ESEF-1, where they replaced exposure cartridges with cartridges delivered by Progress M-29.
Moscow Office Report #155, ANSER Center for International Aerospace Cooperation, October 20, 1995; ESA Press Release Number 42-95, October 13, 1995; "In Orbit They Still Do Not Know That Their Mission Has Been Extended: And ESA Prepares to Receive an Unexpected Gift From Their Russian Colleagues," Sergei Novikov, Segodniya, October 14, 1995, p. 1 (translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, Central Eurasia: Space, FBIS-UST-95-030, November 30, 1995, pp. 44-45); MirNews 276, Chris Vandenberg, October 19, 1995; "U.K. Scientists to Collect Cosmic Dust," RAS Press Release, October 20, 1995; "Possible Extension of EUROMIR Mission and ESA's First Spacewalk," ESA Press Release 42-95, October 13, 1995.
October 20-November 5
STS-73/Columbia
November 12-20
STS-74/Atlantis (Shuttle-Mir 2)
December 8
1995 EVA 12 World EVA 136 Russian EVA 68 Space Station EVA 76
Duration: 0:37
Spacecraft/mission: Mir PE-20
Crew: Yuri Gidzenko, Sergei Avdeyev, Thomas Reiter Spacewalkers: Sergei Avdeyev, Yuri Gidzenko
Purpose: Transfer docking cone to receive Priroda module
For the 50th EVA using the Orlan-DMA space suit, the cosmonauts entered the base block transfer compartment, sealed hatches leading into Soyuz-TM 22, Spektr, Kvant 2, Kristall, and the base block, and vented the atmosphere into space. They then transferred the Konus #2 docking drogue from the -Z port to the +Z port to receive the Priroda module. Reiter waited out the EVA in the Soyuz-TM 22 descent module.
"Mir Highlights: Crew Work On and Welcome in 1996," Neville Kidger, Spaceflight, March 1996, p. 93.