Beginning of the end for Mir
| |
Mir has spent 15 years in space
| |
MOSCOW, Russia -- A Russian cargo ship has been launched for the final rendezvous with the Mir space station before its scheduled demise on March 6.
The unmanned Progress M1-5 cargo ship, carrying twice the usual amount of fuel, was launched at 7:28 a.m. local time (0428 GMT) on Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan.
Vera Medvedkova, a spokeswoman for the mission control, said the rocket entered orbit 12 minutes after take off.
The ship, which will contribute to the Mir's re-entry -- and planned burn-up -- in the Earth's atmosphere -- is scheduled to dock with the station on Saturday, Medvedkova said.
 | INTERACTIVE |
|
| | |
 | MESSAGE BOARD |
|
| | |
The extra fuel carried by the Progress will be used to fire Mir's thrusters and push the 140-ton station down toward Earth for discarding in a remote area in the Pacific Ocean.
The Progress' launch was originally scheduled last Thursday but was delayed after a series of faults on Mir.
First, a sudden power loss disabled its central computer, then its gyroscopes failed.
Mission Control quickly fixed the computer problem, but has failed to switch on the gyroscopes, the preferred, fuel-free way of aligning the station. Instead, the station is being kept stable using several dozen small thrusters.
The incidents were the latest in a string of mishaps to beset the 15-year-old station and raise concerns about its safety, not least a fire and a near fatal collision with an unmanned cargo ship in 1997.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
RELATED STORIES:
Mir cargo ship launch rescheduled
January 19, 2001
'Controlled' Mir re-entry promised
December 27, 2000
Pacific ditching for Mir in February
November 16, 2000
Future of Mir in doubt after cosmonauts return home
June 16, 2000
RELATED SITES:
Mir Space Station
Mir Interactive Display
Russian Space Industry
Russian Space Agency
NASA
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
|
