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Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 5/97 GERMAN COSMONAUT BACK FROM MIR '97 MISSION by Wolfdietrich Hoeveler Reinhold Ewald, the fourth German astronaut to be on board the Russian space station Mir, is back. Obviously happy and very exhausted, he cautiously answered the question of a reporter if he wanted to fly to Mir some time again. As a matter of fact, many experts think that the astronauts and cosmonauts who stay on board the aged space station should rather be called "all-round workmen" who's main occupation it is to repair the space ship. The fire that broke out on board the station during Reinhold Ewald's stay was played down by the press agencies. NASA announced in its reports that "a problem with the oxygen generating equipment has set off a series of fire alarms and created some minor damage to the station". The fire had broken out on Sunday, February 23, at 22.35 Moscow time in the Kwant 1 module. The six-man crew was exposed to severe smoke for five to seven minutes and the station occupants had to wear masks. Lithiumperchlorate candles are burned on board the station for oxygen generation if more than three persons are inside Mir. The burning time of the candles varies between five to 20 minutes. Probably, some burning material could get out of the oven through a crack in the casing. The following damage was mainly due to the high temperatures. The casing and the wiring in the vicinity were destroyed in the fire. None of the six space men were hurt. Ewald could continue his experimental program afterwards. The physicist who was born in Möchengladbach in 1956 spent 20 days on board the station, being in charge for 27 scientific experiments from the areas of life and material science, as well as, technology research. Another focus was on various so called operational evaluations as part of the preparations for the operation of the international space station. These experiments included tests of the muscular circulation, the research of nucleation during glass melting under weightless conditions, the analysis of the components of Mir's air, as well as, the direct video transmission from the space station to the German ground control center in Operpfaffenhofen. This experiment was done by Kayser-Threde, Munich. Kayser-Threde, as subcontractor, in cooperation with other German companies such as OHB (Bremen), PANKOSMOS (Munich) and VRS (Leipzig), was also responsible for the launch preparations in the Russian control center in Moscow. This included the provision of instruments and equipment, along with the organization and execution of tests and other services. Germany's research ministry had funded the Mir '97 mission with approximately DM 60 million. The program and project management was in the hands of the German space administration DARA which, according to the plans of Research Minister Jürgen Rüttgers, is soon to be integrated into the German Aerospace Research Institute (DLR). The decisive meeting of the parliament is scheduled for April 23. DLR had taken the responsibility for areas such as the astronaut training and the mission control. The scientific project management was handled by the Technical University of Aachen. The software for the experiments with the Titus oven was supplied by the Darmstadt based Vega Space Systems Engineering GmbH, such also furnishing the prerequisites for a successful training with the oven. The software allows for the simulation and graphical illustration of the flawless run of experiments. This includes the insert of samples, their correct installation and the entire scale of operational functions of the Titus oven. Since the program can be executed with any portable PC it was ideal for the trip on board the Mir. Reinhold Ewald also tested an electronic handbook system which was developed by Daimler-Benz Aerospace and was also running on a laptop computer. During his mission, Ewald witnessed the fifth docking maneuver of the American Space Shuttle "Atlantis" with the Mir station. The Shuttle brought the replacement for astronaut Blaha. From page 39 of FLUG REVUE 5/97 Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 5/97 Copyright 1997 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated March 30, 1997