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	Mir Crew Celebrates Cosmonautics Day By Anatoly Zak Staff Writer posted: 07:04 pm ET 13 April 2000

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Thirty-nine years after YuriGagarin's historic flight, cosmonauts Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kalery,on board the Mir space station, marked Cosmonautics Day on Wednesday. Thisholiday is celebrated in Russia on April 12, the anniversary of the firsthuman orbital mission.

As is traditional for CosmonauticsDay, visitors swarmed to Mission Control in the town of Korolev, near Moscow.Ground controllers conducted three television sessions with Mir, givingthe cosmonauts' families and colleagues, as well as reporters, an opportunityto talk to the crew during the occasion.

It was no holiday in orbit,though. On Tuesday at 10:05 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (Wednesday, 02:05GMT; 6:05 a.m. Moscow Time) the main and secondary engines of the Progressspacecraft, which is docked to the station, fired to boost the outpostinto a higher orbit.

This was the first of twomaneuvers intended to prolong Mir's orbital life. A second burn to raiseMir's altitude will take place at the beginning of the next week.

Like any other satellitein low orbit, Mir slowly loses speed and altitude mostly due to frictionfrom air particles in the upper atmosphere. Periodic increases in solaractivity cause the Earth's atmosphere to "bulge," requiring more fuel tomaintain the orbits of low-orbiting spacecraft.

The maneuver on Wednesdayraised the apogee, or highest point, of Mir's orbit from 213 miles (344kilometers) to 220 miles (356 kilometers).

Also on Wednesday, the crewcontinued maintenance work on the station's heat-control hardware, clearingthe system's pumps of air bubbles that prevent their normal operation.

On Friday, cosmonauts planto continue checking Mir's modules for leaks. To maximize the opportunitiesfor the crew to communicate with ground controllers, the cosmonauts nowrest from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT (11:00 to 19:00 GMT; 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. MoscowTime).

The 28th expedition to Mirarrived at the station on April 6 after a successful launch from BaikonurCosmodrome two days earlier.

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