But the pair maybe did not need to do the housework. Their expedition, the 28th on Mir, could be the last because the private company, MirCorp, which runs the space station, has still not found the finance needed to ensure its survival.

Russia might be obliged to destroy Mir in October, if no cash is found.

Over the past few days, the two spacemen have been preparing the craft for an automatic pilot regimen, said the space flight control centre (TSOUP), situated near Moscow.

It said the cosmonauts had stacked worn-out equipment in the cargo vessel Progress which will separate automatically from Mir and burn up in the atmosphere once the pair has left the station.

Their departure was scheduled for Thursday evening at 2122 GMT aboard the space vessel Soyuz TM-30, which was expected to land near the town of Arkalyk, in north-western Kazakhstan, three hours later.

The cosmonauts, aboard Mir since April 6, have undertaken an exercise programme "to prepare their muscles for the heavy pressures their bodies will endure during landing," TSOUP said.

During their mission, the cosmonauts managed to accomplish their main objective -- locating and plugging an air leak that began last spring and which gradually depressurised the station.

During a space walk on May 12, Zaliotin and Kaleri also repaired a short circuit on one of 10 solar batteries providing electricity to the station.

Mir has been in orbit for 14 years and could function for another two or three years, according to technicians of the Russian company Energuia, in charge of the station's technical operations.

MirCorp officials said they were happy with the way Mir is operating. "Our Russian partners do everything on time. This is very important for our investors," MirCorp spokesman Jeffery Lenorovitz said recently.

He added there had been considerable progress in talks on financing of the space station.

Last month MirCorp signed a protocol with a private Italian company, Itali-Mir, which committed itself to finding 20 million dollars (21 million euros) to fly an Italian to Mir.

A first tranche of one million dollars was to have been provided by mid-June, but the cash has still not been released, said Lenorovitz.

MirCorp is also counting on a space tourism plan under which visitors would spend a week in orbit with two Russian cosmonauts for 30 million dollars.

Lenorovitz said his company had been holding talks with "very serious candidates".

A new team might fly to Mir from the cosmodrome of Baikonur in Kazakhstan next November, if the necessary cash is raised.

The two-man team for the this 29th expedition would be Pavel Vinogradov and Salijan Sharipov, understudies for Zaliotin and Kaleri, should the flight take place.

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