Crunch Time For Russian Space

SPACE TRAVEL

With crew manifests for the next three years on ISS, also on today's meeting agenda of top Russian space officials, Mir's fate is probably a given

Moscow (Interfax) Oct. 19, 2000
The future of the Mir space station is likely to be cleared up on Thursday afternoon, Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for the head of the Russian aerospace agency Rosaviacosmos, has told Interfax.

Whether or not Mir will operate in the future is on the agenda of the session of the agency's senior officials that started at 2 p.m. Moscow time on Thursday, he said.

However, it is preparedness for the first long-term mission to the International Space Station (ISS), whose launch is set for October 31 upon the recommendations of ballistics experts, will be given priority at the session, he said.

The names of Russian members of the international crew to be sent to the ISS from the fourth through the eighth expeditions will also be approved on Thursday, Gorbunov said. Thus, the timetable of flights to the ISS will be drawn up for the next few years, he said.

SPACE TRAVEL

Putin Will Make Final Decision On Mir

Moscow (Interfax) Oct. 17, 2000
Almost everyone agrees today that Russia cannot afford the heavy burden of keeping the glorious but aging space station Mir in orbit. The upsurge of political and public interest in Mir that could have given the station several more years of life faded as soon as specific amounts of money came into question.

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