Re: MIR LIT BY THE SUN

Alphonse Pouplier writes:

|>Neil T. Clifford writes to me: (I'm presuming you mean longer time in
|>terms of days visible from one site as oppose to longer time spent in the
|>daylight portion of it's orbit) My answer is: NO, I actualy mean "time
|>spent in the daylight portion of it's orbit". For the cosmonauts, "days
|>visible from one site" does not matter. According to my programs and the
|>current TL of MIR, MIR was during almost 100 percent of its orbit lit by
|>the Sun untill about 15-16 of june. Such circumstances will not happen
|>before long. Now MIR, during the shuttle approaching, will be in the
|>shadow's conus for a large part of its orbit. Isn't it uncomfortable for
|>them ?

My apologies - I thought you were talking from the point of view of an
observer not the cosmonauts. As Bill Bard has said NASA certainly don't
seem to mind. I suspect that they would prefer the very final appraoch
(last 10 metres) to be in sunlight possibly. One limiting factor (and
more important I guess) may be the requirement for both vehicles to be
able to be in contact with their respective control centres throughout.

--
Neil Clifford        http://www.ipp-garching.mpg.de/~bdp/vsohp/satintro.html
<neil_at_eeyore.demon.co.uk>