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Mir Space Station


Tyneside, UK
2024 Mar 29
Friday, Day 89

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Mir Diary - 1997

A Chronology of mission events in orbit and on the ground. Mir existed for fifteen years growing from the original 20 tonne core module to a massive 130+ tonnes.

Date Time (UTC) Event
1997 Jan 12 09:27 Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-81 into orbit of 241 x 297 kilometres at 51.6 degrees inclination with crew consisting of Michael Baker (commander), Brent Jett (pilot), mission specialists John Grunsfeld, Marsha Ivins, Peter Wisoff, and Jerry Linenger
1997 Jan 15 03:54 Atlantis docks with the Orbiter Docking System unit on the front port of KristallKristall - orbit is 381 x 391 kilometres
1997 Jan 20 02:15 Atlantis undocks from Mir carring Readdy, Wilcutt, Apt, Akers, Walz and Lucid - it performs a flyaround of Mir before departing
1997 Jan 22 13:17 Atlantis fires its OMS engines to initiate re-entry
1997 Jan 22 14:22 Atlantis lands on the Kennedy Space Center runway
1997 Jan 22 14:23 Wheel stop - Atlantis STS-81 mission is over
1997 Feb 6 12:13 Progress M-33 undocks from Mir
1997 Feb 7 16:28 Soyuz TM-24 undocks from Mir with Dezhurov, Strekalov and Thagard aboard
1997 Feb 7 16:51 Soyuz TM-24 re-docks with the rear port of Kvant after photographing Shuttle Atlantis as it undocks - the re-docking has to be speeded up when one of the Mir computers goes offline and the station begins to rotate - orbit is 378 x 394 kilometres
1997 Feb 10 14:09 Soyuz TM-25 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 200 x 254 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination with cosmonauts Vasili Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Lazyutkin and Ewald Reinhold (Germany) aboard
1997 Feb 12 15:51 Soyuz TM-25 docks with Mir's forward-facing port - orbit is 391 x 398 kilometres
1997 Feb 23 An oxygen-generating candle aboard Mir catches fire and fills the station with smoke - the crew uses fire extinguishers to put it out
1997 Mar 2 03:24 Soyuz TM-24 undocks from Mir with Korzun, Kaleri and Reinhold aboard
1997 Mar 2 05:50 Soyuz TM-24 makes its retro-fire
1997 Mar 2 06:44 Soyuz TM-24 lands
1997 Mar 4 07:08 Progress M-33 has returned to the vicinity of Mir to be used in a test of the TORU remote control system
1997 Mar 4 07:41 Under remote control, Progress M-33 fails to dock with Kvant
1997 Mar 4 07:45 Mission controllers call off the TORU test with Mir and Progress M-33
1997 Mar 4 07:45 Progress M-33 has returned to the vicinity of Mir - as a test of the TORU remote control system, the Mir crew attempt to re-dock Progress M-33 it but are unsuccessful and the attempt is called off
1997 Mar 12 03:23 After a retro-firing of its manoeuvring engine, Progress M-33 enters the upper atmosphere and burns up as a result of frictional heating
1997 Mar 22 01:03 Atlantis undocks from Mir carring Precourt, Collins, Clervoy, Noriega, Lu, Kondakova, Linenger )
1997 Mar 24 12:23 Atlantis fires its OMS engines to initiate re-entry after a one-orbit waive-off due to low cloud at KSC
1997 Mar 24 13:27 Atlantis lands on the Kennedy Space Center runway
1997 Mar 24 13:28 Wheel stop - Atlantis STS-84 mission is over
1997 Apr 6 16:04 Progress M-34 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into approximately 187 x 227 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination
1997 Apr 8 17:30 Progress M-34 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 378 x 392 kilometres
1997 Apr 19 Space Shuttle Atlantis starts its rollout to the Pad for mission STS-84
1997 Apr 29 05:10 Tsibilev and Linenger start a space walk to retrieve experimental material from outside Mir
1997 Apr 29 10:08 Tsibilev and Linenger finish their space walk after 4 hours 58 minutes
1997 May 12 09:07 Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-84 into orbit of 241 x 297 kilometres at 51.6 degrees inclination with crew consisting of Charles Precourt (commander), Eileen Collins (pilot), mission specialists Michael Foale, Carlos Noriega, Edward Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy (ESA astronaut - France) and Yelena Kondakova (Russia)
1997 May 17 02:33 Atlantis docks with the Orbiter Docking System unit on the front port of Kristall - orbit is 381 x 391 kilometres
1997 Jun 24 10:22 Progress M-34 undocks from Mir
1997 Jun 25 09:10 During a test of the TORU remote control system, Progress M-34 collides with Mir's Spektr module, causing it to depressurise - the crew of Mir has to take emergency action to prevent the atmosphere being expelled from the rest f the station
1997 Jul 2 05:34 Progress M-34 makes a retro-rocket firing
1997 Jul 2 06:31 Progress M-34 enters the upper atmosphere and burns up as a result of frictional heating
1997 Jul 5 04:11 Progress M-35 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 178 x 212 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination
1997 Jul 7 05:59 Progress M-35 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 386 x 392 kilometres
1997 Aug 5 15:35 Soyuz TM-26 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 188 x 232 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination with cosmonauts Vladimir Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov aboard
1997 Aug 6 11:46 Progress M-35 undocks from Mir in order to vacate the Kvant docking port for use by the upcoming Soyuz TM-26
1997 Aug 7 17:02 Soyuz TM-26 docks with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 386 x 392 kilometres
1997 Aug 14 08:55 Soyuz TM-25 undocks from Mir with Tsibliyev and Lazyutkin aboard
1997 Aug 14 11:21 Soyuz TM-25 makes its retro-fire
1997 Aug 14 12:17 Soyuz TM-25 lands - the touchdown rockets fail to fire, giving the crew a very rough landing
1997 Aug 15 13:29 Soyuz TM-26 undocks from Mir with Solovyov, Vinogradov and Foale aboard
1997 Aug 15 14:13 After Mir has executed a 180 degree rotation, Soyuz TM-26 re-docks with Mir's forward-facing port - orbit is 385 x 392 kilometres
1997 Aug 17 12:15 Approximate time - an attempt to re-dock Progress M-35 with the ,b>Kvant docking port fails as a result of incorrect data being loaded in the Progress M-35 computer
1997 Aug 18 Space Shuttle Atlantis starts its rollout to the Pad for mission STS-86
1997 Aug 18 11:52 Progress M-35 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant for a second time - orbit is 385 x 392 kilometres
1997 Aug 22 11:14 Solovyov and Vinogradov start a space walk within Mir to inspect the damaged Spektr module - the event had begun earlier but a problem with a seal on one of Vinogradov's gloves meant that depressurisation had to be reversed in order for him to change it
1997 Aug 22 14:30 Solovyov and Vinogradov finish their space walk after 3 hours 16 minutes
1997 Sep 6 01:07 Solovyov and Foale start a space walk to inspect the Spektr hull - on cutting away insulaing material, they are unable to locate any damage that might relate to an air leak
1997 Sep 6 07:07 Solovyov and Foale finish their space walk after 6 hours 00 minutes
1997 Sep 15 Mir crew moves into Soyuz TM-26 while the station makes a 500 metre close pass by the MSTI-2 satellite as their orbits cross
1997 Sep 26 02:34 Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-86 into orbit of 256 x 298 kilometres at 51.6 degrees inclination with crew consisting of James Wetherbee (commander), Michael Bloomfiled (pilot), mission specialists Vladimir Titov (Russia), Jean-Loup Chretien (France), Wendy Lawrence and David Wolf
1997 Sep 27 19:58 Atlantis docks with the Orbiter Docking System unit on the front port of KristallKristall - orbit is 384 x 390 kilometres
1997 Oct 1 17:29 Titov and Parazynski start a space walk from Atlantis to move, from the cargo bay to the outside of the Orbiter Docking System, a seal that can be used to repair damage to Spektr from the collision with Progress M-34 1997 Jun 25
1997 Oct 1 22:30 Titov and Parazynski finish their space walk after 5 hours 1 minute
1997 Oct 3 17:28 Atlantis undocks from Mir carring Wetherbee, Bloomfield, Titov, Parazynski, Chretien, Lawrence and Foale - it performs a flyaround of Mir before departing
1997 Oct 5 12:45 Approximate time for planned undocking from Mir - the event is postponed because a manually-applied clamp id still present across the Progress/Mir docking interface
1997 Oct 5 15:08 Progress M-36 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 178 x 212 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination
1997 Oct 6 20:47 Atlantis fires its OMS engines to initiate re-entry
1997 Oct 6 21:55 Atlantis lands on the Kennedy Space Center runway
1997 Oct 6 21:56 Wheel stop - Atlantis STS-86 mission is over
1997 Oct 7 12:03 Progress M-35 undocks from Mir
1997 Oct 7 16:41 Progress M-35 fires its retro rocket
1997 Oct 7 17:23 Progress M-35 enters the upper atmosphere and burns up as a result of frictional heating
1997 Oct 8 17:07 Progress M-36 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 386 x 392 kilometres
1997 Oct 20 09:40 Solovyov and Vinogradov start a space walk within Mir to re-connect cables that permit Kvant's solar panels to operate correctly - the cables were cut during the emergency when Kvant was depressurised in the collision with Progress M-34 1997 Jun 25
1997 Oct 20 16:18 Solovyov and Vinogradov finish their space walk after 6 hours 38 minutes
1997 Nov 3 03:32 Solovyov and Vinogradov start a space walk to retract and remove an old solar panel from Kvant and stow it on the core module
1997 Nov 3 04:05 In the course of their space walk, Solovyov and Vinogradov release 'Sputnik 40', a student-built 1/3 scale model of Sputnik, into orbit
1997 Nov 3 09:36 Solovyov and Vinogradov finish their space walk after 6 hours 4 minutes - they are unable to seal the outer hatch of Kvant when they re-enter it and have to use the internal section of the module as an airlock
1997 Nov 6 00:12 Solovyov and Vinogradov start a space walk to install a solar panel on the outside of Kvant to replace the one removed during the previous space walk
1997 Nov 6 06:24 Solovyov and Vinogradov finish their space walk after 6 hours 12 minutes
1997 Dec 17 06:01 Progress M-36 undocks from Mir
1997 Dec 19 13:20 Progress M-36 fires its retro-rocket to initiate re-entry, and after about 50 minutes it enters the upper atmosphere and burns up as a result of frictional heating
1997 Dec 20 08:45 Progress M-37 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into approx 175 x 225 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination
1997 Dec 22 10:22 Progress M-37 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 378 x 389 kilometres
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