MOSCOW, Jan. 5 — Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has signed the formal resolution ordering that the nearly 15-year-old Mir space station be taken out of orbit and sunk into the ocean early this year, the Russian space agency said Friday. The death warrant presages the end of an era for Russia’s cash-strapped space program.
A SPOKESMAN for the Russian Aerospace Agency said that Kasyanov had signed the document Dec. 30, formalizing a government decision in November to take the nearly 15-year-old Mir, originally intended to orbit Earth for just five years, out of service due to a lack of funding.
The order calls for establishing a commission to determine how Mir will be brought down, and also says that the resources once dedicated to the orbiter should be focused on the $60 billion-plus International Space Station Alpha. The new space station, a 16-nation venture, uses technology developed for Mir, which for years was the world’s only manned space station.
During its lifetime Mir helped Soviet and Russian cosmonauts set a string of space endurance records that have been the nation’s pride — and the envy of the better-funded U.S. space program.
But in recent years a spate of mishaps dulled the space station’s image, including an onboard fire, a near-catastrophic collision with a cargo craft, repeated computer glitches and a Christmas communications failure last month, which sparked fears that Mir was spinning out of control in its final days.
U.S. space officials have pushed Russia to dump Mir, saying it drained sparse resources that would be better spent on the international Alpha station. If all goes according to plan, Mir would be the last in a line of Russian space stations stretching back 30 years.
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-Administrator / Owner
"Everything was true. God was an astronaut. Oz really is over the
rainbow. ...and Midian is where the monsters live." -Nightbreed
A SPOKESMAN for the Russian Aerospace Agency said that Kasyanov had signed the document Dec. 30, formalizing a government decision in November to take the nearly 15-year-old Mir, originally intended to orbit Earth for just five years, out of service due to a lack of funding.
The order calls for establishing a commission to determine how Mir will be brought down, and also says that the resources once dedicated to the orbiter should be focused on the $60 billion-plus International Space Station Alpha. The new space station, a 16-nation venture, uses technology developed for Mir, which for years was the world’s only manned space station.
During its lifetime Mir helped Soviet and Russian cosmonauts set a string of space endurance records that have been the nation’s pride — and the envy of the better-funded U.S. space program.
But in recent years a spate of mishaps dulled the space station’s image, including an onboard fire, a near-catastrophic collision with a cargo craft, repeated computer glitches and a Christmas communications failure last month, which sparked fears that Mir was spinning out of control in its final days.
U.S. space officials have pushed Russia to dump Mir, saying it drained sparse resources that would be better spent on the international Alpha station. If all goes according to plan, Mir would be the last in a line of Russian space stations stretching back 30 years.
Want to learn more?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/490797.asp
------------------
-Administrator / Owner
"Everything was true. God was an astronaut. Oz really is over the
rainbow. ...and Midian is where the monsters live." -Nightbreed