In the morning we ran an accelerometer test on the transport ship. There’s a hypothesis that the accuracy of their operation is affected by other equipment — angular rate sensors and gyroscopes — being connected to the power supply simultaneously. The test results confirmed that as the load on the power converters increases, the interference level decreases and, consequently, the accuracy of acceleration measurements improves.

The comm session is on. We’re discussing the test. At the end, Kobzev comes on the line, and again about my weight. This topic is getting tiresome. They could actually ruin my appetite this way. Then he reported via our code table that the ground thinks our on-board relations have become strained. So I ask him on the open comm link Zarya, knowing the whole of TsUP can hear: “How is our work?” “Excellent,” he says. “How do we conduct ourselves with the ground on comm?” He answers: correctly. Well then, I say, those are the main indicators of the climate in the crew, and let’s stop discussing this topic. Today we also pressurized the station with air delivered to us in cylinders aboard the Progress ship. The fact is, after the spacewalk, overall pressure in the station dropped from normal to 713 mmHg, due to re-pressurizing the orbital module compartment after returning to the station with air from the work compartment. We raised the pressure to 805 mmHg, and there was still air left in the cylinders. It was a pity to leave it unused, but we can’t over-pressurize the station above this limit due to structural strength constraints.

Now let me tell you more about our plumbing. On our station “Salyut-7,” for the first time, the “Rodnik” system has been installed. These are two spherical tanks with water, approximately 250 liters each. They’re filled on Earth and in flight from the Progress cargo ships. Previously, water was stored in separate containers inside the station, and they of course cluttered its volume, but now the water tanks are outside the station in the instrument compartment, and water is delivered by an electric pump or by excess pressure in the tanks through a pipeline directly to the central control post, where we have our food preparation equipment. When the water regeneration system from condensate (SRVK) doesn’t provide enough water, we top it off from our plumbing system as well. In general, daily life has gotten simpler, and it’s hard to list all the conveniences this system has given us, but they often remind us of themselves when we drink, prepare food, fill the drinking water container, or refuel water from the cargo ship directly into the large tanks rather than into separate containers.

Right now our orbit over the Soviet Union passes only at night and early morning. During the day, communication begins over North America, somewhere around the Great Lakes region, and we maintain it over the Atlantic through the ships of the command and measurement fleet stationed there. How pleasant it is to read newspapers before bed, like now.