Council of Chief Designers Makes Decision on Preparations for the launch of Soyuz TM-34

S.P.Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation hosted a meeting of the
Council of Chief Designers for the Russian Segment of the
International Space Station (RS ISS).

The meeting of the Council was presided over by the Chairman of the
Council of Chief Designers, Technical director of Russian manned
programs, Designer General, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Yu.P.Semenov.

Presented at the meeting was a report from the S.P.Korolev RSC Energia
Deputy Designer General Yu.I.Grigoriev about the results of the ISS
manned operation over the period from October 2001 to the present day
(completion of the mission of the third main expedition ISS-3 and the
second visiting mission, the mission of the fourth main expedition
ISS-4), about the status of the space station and pre-launch
processing of the manned transport spacecraft Soyuz TM-34.

The meeting also heard reports from general and chief designers,
responsible representatives of the system developers and manufacturers
on the operational readiness of the manned spacecraft and ISS as a
whole.

Reports and statements on the manufacturing status of manned and
logistics vehicles for ISS program, the third visiting crew readiness,
health status of the ISS-4 crew and the third visiting crew, on the
ISS mission progress, on the readiness of the mission control
documentation, the Lead Operations Control Team (LOCT) personnel, and
the crews, for the Soyuz TM-34 docking operations were presented by:
Director of Experimental Machine-Building Plant of the Corporation
A.F.Strekalov, the head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
P.I.Klimuk, Deputy Director of the Institute for Medical and
Biological Problems V.V.Bogomolov, the head of LOCT V.A.Soloviev. Also
heard was a statement from TsNIIMash representative A.T.Goryachenkov
clearing the spacecraft for launch and for proceeding with the ISS
program of activities.

Taking into account the technical condition of the ISS, the Soyuz
TM-34 readiness status, progress of the Soyuz launch vehicle
pre-launch processing, the readiness of the personnel of the Russian
and US ground facilities for pre-launch processing and mission
control, the readiness of the ISS-4 crew and the third visiting crew
for the implementation of the station and the spacecraft mission plan,
and also taking into account the favorable reports on the operational
readiness of the manned spacecraft and ISS as a whole, the Council of
Cheif Designers has made a decision to approve: the results of tests and a plan for the forthcoming work on the
preparation of manned Soyuz TM-34 spacecraft for launch on April 25,
2002, in order to perform a scheduled replacement of Soyuz TM-33 on
space station, and carry out the third visiting mission;
a 10-day program of the third visiting mission which envisages
experiments and studies designed by scientists from Russia, Italy, and
Republic of South Africa.

Present at the meeting of the Council of Chief Designers were
representatives from Rosaviacosmos, NASA, ESA, companies and
organizations of the industry participating in the implementation of
the ISS project.