Word: spektr
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Still, the new cosmonauts were nothing if not confident. Their first tasks are to boost the station's electric power and reopen Mir's damaged Spektr module, site of U.S. astronaut Michael Foale's experiments. Ever since an errant Progress supply capsule slammed into it in June, Spektr has been completely sealed off and the cables to its solar panels severed, cutting Mir's electric power in half...
Solovyev, a veteran of four missions to Mir, and Vinogradov, a space rookie, are slated to begin undoing the damage next week with a tricky "internal" space walk. Though they've rehearsed the zero-G procedure in water tanks, they could face unexpected problems when they open Spektr's hatch--from, say, sharp-edged shards of metal and glass floating in the module since the rapid depressurization...
After they install a new hatch that was flown to Mir last month, Solovyev will squeeze into Spektr to look for the cables from its solar panels so they can be reconnected to the Mir power system. But it will be a hunt in the dark, with the only light coming from a miner's type lamp on Solovyev's helmet and a flashlight held by Vinogradov in the airlock behind...
Even if all this succeeds, Spektr can't be used until the cosmonauts patch up the damage to its skin. On Sept. 3 Solovyev and Vinogradov are booked for a second walk--this one outside Mir--during which they'll crawl around the module looking for any punctures, which they hope to seal with rubbery "hermetic patches." Spektr can then be repressurized...
...even on Earth, their mission may continue to haunt them. Russian President Boris Yeltsin last week raised "the human factor" as the likely source of Mir's troubles. And adding to Tsibliyev's public embarrassment, Russian officials disclosed that because he was guiding Progress when it plowed into Spektr, he may not get his full flight bonus for his difficult six months in space...