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Crippled Mir turns to sun for needed solar energy
June 26, 1997
Web posted at: 9:20 a.m. EDT (1320 GMT)In this story:
- Crippled by collision
- NASA to rethink program
- Even worse disaster averted
- Expert: 'Mir safety ... declining'
- Related stories and sites
(CNN) -- Short of power after the worst orbital collision ever, the crew aboard Russia's crippled space station turned Mir toward the sun to soak up some energy, officials said Thursday.
Animation of collision (QuickTime movie)
2.7 MB/43 sec./160x120
animation by Analytical Graphics.An unstaffed cargo ship crashed into Mir on Wednesday, leaving a gash about the size of a postage stamp in the pressurized vessel, knocking out half the power and raising more questions about how much longer the decrepit spacecraft can function.
The accident knocked the station away from the ideal angle for the remaining solar panels to absorb energy from the sun, said Frank Culbertson, director of NASA's shuttle-Mir program.
Thursday's readjustment should help the station's batteries recharge, said Vera Medvedkova, a spokeswoman for Russian Mission Control.
See video of the
damage to Mir
Also Thursday, the Russian-American crew of the damaged Mir space station engaged in intensive discussions with Mission Control near Moscow on Thursday. Officials said repairs would be agreed on within hours.
A 20-minute exchange between Mir and Earth was devoted entirely to urgent technical discussion between the cosmonauts and large numbers of experts who have gathered at Mission Control in Korolyov, Russia.
Poor atmospheric conditions meant there were no clear pictures of the exchange.
Officials said a commission set up to deal with the damage would announce the strategy for repairing the solar power supply and punctured Spektr module at 1000 GMT Thursday.
Officials also announced an unmanned Russian cargo craft due to head for the Mir space station on Friday is almost certain to be held up while vital cabling needed to repair Mir's damaged power system is loaded.
CNN National Correspondent John Holliman explains what happened in the Mir collision 1.5MB/46 sec. QuickTime movie "The postponement process was started last night. It's most likely it will not go tomorrow," a spokesman for Russia's Military Space Forces said. A spokesman for Moscow's Energiya corporation, which makes the cable, said it could take two or three days to get the spare length to the Baikonur launch pad.
Crippled by collision
On Wednesday, the space station was operating at half power after the collision with a bus-sized cargo craft during a docking test.
It was the worst-ever space collision and the latest in a series of troubles that raise questions about the future of the 11-year-old Russian space station.
Moreover, it's likely the accident has ruined many of the scientific experiments of NASA astronaut Michael Foale, and it has already led to reconsideration of the shuttle-Mir program.
The American and two Russians on Mir were said to be in no immediate danger, but it was unclear how much longer they could remain on board. Mir has an attached Soyuz capsule that can bring the crewmen home in an emergency.
The men were forced to work in darkness with much of their equipment turned off to save energy. Unless more power is restored soon -- how soon, NASA couldn't say -- they may not be able to operate their life-support systems, such as the primary oxygen generators and the carbon dioxide removal system.
"It's a serious situation," said astronaut Jerry Linenger, who returned from Mir in May after battling a fire and other life-threatening problems aboard the aging outpost. "Fire aboard a spacecraft and decompression are the two most dangerous things that can happen on an orbiting vehicle."
The collision put an estimated 1-inch gash in Spektr, Mir's laboratory module. When the crew heard the hissing of oxygen seeping through the hole and felt pressure dropping throughout Mir, they immediately shut the hatch, sealing Spektr off from the rest of the space station but exposing it to the deadly vacuum of space.
NASA to rethink program
While still trying to determine the extent of the damage, NASA said it will rethink its program of sending astronauts to Mir.
"Once we get the situation stabilized and understand what the long-term potential for operation on the Mir is and what its capabilities remaining are, then we will evaluate with the Russians where we go next," said Frank Culbertson, director of NASA's shuttle-Mir program. "We might at some point want to terminate the mission."
The power loss aboard Mir could lead to rising carbon dioxide levels in the breathing air, so the crew will have to avoid exerting themselves, Linenger said. Exercise, crucial for space travelers to ward off the debilitating effects of weightlessness, would have to be suspended.
Mir-Shuttle Program Manager Frank Culbertson: "The crew is doing well ..."
(221K/19 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
"The decompression is not necessarily attributable to age ..."
(162K/13 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
"Power loss on Mir ..."
(162K/14 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
"This situation was unforseen ..."
(323K/29 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)"The power is the main concern because you depend on that to keep your life-support systems going and for the whole operation of the station," Linenger said.
It may be possible for spacewalking astronauts to reroute electrical cables from the crippled module's solar panels to regain some of the station's lost power, Culbertson said.
"The Russians have a very good record in trouble-shooting problems in orbit," Philip Clark, editor of Jane's Space Directory, said. "In 1985, they brought the Salyut 7 station back from the dead."
Even worse disaster averted
The Russians averted an even worse disaster by quick action to isolate the oxygen leak after the collision, Russian and U.S. officials agreed.
The crash punctured one of the laboratory module's solar panels and dented a radiator, Culbertson said.
The module is equipped with four electricity-producing solar panels, none of which is working now. Much of Foale's belongings and research equipment are located there.
The crash also knocked the station away from the proper sun angle for the remaining panels. The crew will have to use precious fuel to fire thrusters to turn the station in the right direction.
President Clinton was receiving frequent updates from NASA and said through his spokesman that he remained committed to the shuttle-Mir program.
Others disagreed with that approach. James Oberg, an expert on Russian space affairs, said the collision is just the latest example of why Mir should be abandoned as soon as possible.
Expert: 'Mir safety ... declining'
"I've always felt that the Mir safety is certainly declining with age, while the utility of our being there has been also declining," he said.
In February, a defective oxygen generator sparked a 14-minute fire that sent chunks of molten metal flying. In the weeks afterward, the cooling system leaked, oxygen generators failed and the carbon dioxide removal system broke down.
Wednesday's collision happened as the Russian cosmonauts practiced docking the Progress supply ship by remote control. Commander Vasily Tsibliyev could not slow the ship, and it slammed into Spektr, Culbertson said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
- Message Board: Mir collision
- CNN - In Depth - Space
- Transcript: Story Musgrave Discusses the Mir Space Station Collision - June 25, 1997
Related stories:
- Mir at half power after collision - June 25, 1997
- No plans to abandon Mir - June 25, 1997
- Russian supply ship collides with space station Mir - June 25, 1997
- Shuttle Atlantis makes repair call to Mir - May 16, 1997
- NASA: Russia will come through with key part of space station - May 15, 1997
- Atlantis to embark before dawn on mission to Mir - May 14, 1997
- NASA to put another U.S.astronaut aboard troubled Mir - May 2, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Analytical Graphics Inc. - created Mir collision animation
- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web - information about the Mir Space station is provided by NASA
- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web: Spektr - section of the space station that was hit
- MIR Space Station - Radio Transmit Info - information about how to transmit and receive communications with MIR through amateur radio.
- ISS Phase I - Space Station Mir - contains graphics and specifications of the diferent areas of MIR
- Russian Space Agency - homepage of the Russian Space Agency through the NASA site
- Pictures and Movies - contains pictures of MIR and MIR missions as released by the Russian Space Agency.
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