1997 June 25 collision Spektr Repair Oxygen problem Power up Summary

JUNE 25.
At 5:18 a.m. EDT on June 25, 1997, Spektr was badly damaged when Progress M-34, an unmanned resupply vessel, crashed into the module during tests of the new TORU Progress guidance system. The cosmonauts had tried the TORU system before, without much success. TORU is a new cheaper system that relies on manual guidance, it will be used on the new ISS. The module Spektr began to lose pressure, it dropped to about 600 millibars before the crew got it sealed of. Because it had to be sealed of, the wires supplying the station with power from the Spektr solar panels had to be disconnected to get the hatch closed. These 4 solar panels supply almost 50% of all the stations power so many systems had to be turned of, including the urine recycling system and the elektron (oxygen generator) system that separates oxygen from onboard waste water. For oxygen generating they now used burning oxygen candles. The Spektr was now left dead, it's pressure had dropped to vacuum and it was cold, below freezing. Spektr had served as the living quarters for U.S. astronauts aboard Mir so Mike Foale (current U.S. astronaut aboard) had to find a new place to live, all his belongings was left inside Spektr, shoes, pictures, clothes, and all the scientific discoveries was left behind. The power loss caused the crew to shut of the Kristall, Kvant-2 and Priroda, leaving these modules without any power, all heat and ventilation in these modules was shut off . The only module with power was the core module and Kvant-1.

August 22.
After delays caused by computer crashes, a spacewalk to restore some of Mirīs lost power was successfully completed on august 22. It involved replacing the hatch sealing Spektr from the rest of Mir with a new hatch with power cables running trough it, the cut of power cables inside Spektr was connected to the new hatch and power was again flowing from 3 of the solar panels on Spekr to rest of the station. 1 of the panels was so badly damaged in the collision that it was left unusable. Several items was retrieved from Spektr, the stations only vacuum cleaner, computer disks and some of Mike Foale's things.

August 25.
The crew had trouble with oxygen generating, they were using the "burning oxygen candle system" because it used less power than the Elektron system, but both the primary system and backup system failed so they had to switch to the more power consuming Elektron system, but both primary and backup system failed there to. They fixed it by the next day but if they had not been able to fix it they would have had to leave the station, because without a oxygen generating system they would only have enough onboard oxygen for 2 days. (They managed to fix the problem within a day by taking parts from one system and putting into the other)

August 27.
The crew got less power to play with from the august 22 repair than expected, they were hoping for 300 amps but only got about 140 amps because the motors used to orient the panels towards the sun was not working. But the new power gain was enough to bring some of the modules that was shut of after the collision due to power constraints back to life. 100 amps of the new power was directed into Kvant-2 and many of the systems in there was brought back to life. The 40 amps left was directed into the Kristall module, and was used to power up ventilators, heaters and the docking module which had to be powered up in the expectation of the soon arriving U.S. shuttle. There was not enough power however to bring any life into Priroda, so it was still left cold and dead. Before repowering Kvant-2 and Kristall, they had to run fans and heaters to dry the equipment, which was left damp after two months without power to keep the heaters going. Kvant-2 is very important because it houses additional life support, motion control systems and other important equipment. Kristall is also an important module, because it contains a lot of equipment for scientific research, but mostly because it is connected to the docking module which is used to dock with the U.S. shuttle.

1997 Summary:

The 3 functioning Spektr solar panels was later in 1997 connected to a computer. The computer allowed them to track the sun once again, with the use of gyrodynes and the power output was increased.
The Mir had many computer problems in 1997 and every time the computer crashes the solar panels loses track of the sun causing them to produce much less power. Many systems then have to be turned off. There were more computer crashes then parts to fix them causing the crew to dig up an old replaced computer, and strip it for parts, making a temporary repair before the U.S. shuttle with replacement astronaut David Wolf came with a new computer.
The Mir is now (June 1999) functioning very well with about 90 percent of the Mir power restored. The Spektr module is still sealed off and with no plans to repair it. The Mir space station will probably be abandoned in August, if funds is not found to keep it going.

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