| |
ZL2TZE > MIR 25.10.00 16:23l 67 Lines 2950 Bytes #-8904 (0) @ WW
BID : 32386-ZL2TZE
Read: DG2NBN DG7RO DG8NGN GUEST DB0FHN OE7FMI
Subj: Mir to Be Dumped In February
Path: DB0ABH<DB0SRS<DB0AIS<DB0ZDF<DB0GE<LX0PAC<LX0HST<HA3PG<7M3TJZ<IK1ZNW<
IK6PYS<N8ZFM<ZL2TZE
Sent: 001025/0542Z @:ZL2TZE.#73.MLB.NZL.OC #:32386 $:32386-ZL2TZE
From: ZL2TZE@ZL2TZE.#73.MLB.NZL.OC
To : MIR@WW
By Vladimir Isachenkov
posted: 10:07 am ET
23 October 2000
MOSCOW (AP) -- A senior Cabinet official said on Monday that the Mir space
station will be dumped early next year, leaving no hope for the survival of
the last symbol of Soviet space glory.
"We are planning to bring the Mir down into the ocean at the end of
February," Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said, according to Russian
news agencies.
Klebanov, who is in charge of space policy in the Cabinet, had previously
voiced hope that private funds may still save the nearly 15-year-old Mir.
Earlier this year, the station had won a new lease on life when the
Netherlands-based MirCorp signed a lease agreement and provided some funds to
keep it aloft.
On Monday, however, Klebanov left no doubt that the decision to dump Mir was
final, saying that officials are now preparing details of the operation to
discard the venerable station. His spokeswoman, Oksana Onishchenko, said that
the official Cabinet decision to dump the outpost would be made later, but
added that Mir would certainly be brought down.
MirCorp executives have been in Moscow this month, trying to persuade
government officials that Mir should remain in orbit. Jeffrey Manber,
president of Mircorp, still held out hope.
"We have cash flow estimates next year of over $100 million. We've
demonstrated to the Russian government that we have the capability, if we can
get through this crisis now," Manber said.
He said he expected a formal Cabinet decision within two weeks.
MirCorp had recently announced a drive to raise $117 million in a stock
offering to refurbish the station and keep it flying. Its plans included
sending Santa Monica, California businessman Dennis Tito as a tourist to the
station early next year for $20 million.
Russian space officials have grown increasingly skeptical about MirCorp's
ability to raise the money needed to keep the station aloft. MirCorp had said
it would finance last week's fuel-supply flight by a Progress cargo ship, but
Manber said Monday that it will be able to come up with the money only in two
to three weeks.
Mir has been quickly losing altitude since its latest crew left in June, and
Russian space officials have said it's necessary to raise the orbit now so
that the 130-ton station doesn't fall out of control.
The uncontrollable plunge of Mir would be a nightmare that Russian space
officials need to avoid at all costs, since heavy fragments of the station
could conceivably fall on populated areas.
Klebanov said that another Progress with a larger amount of fuel would be
launched to Mir to give it the final impulse to bring it down.
The government has pledged to devote its scarce space funds to the new
International Space Station, a 16-nation project led by the United States,
and has been under an intense pressure from NASA to dump Mir.
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
