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Mir commander declared unfit for repairs
American astronaut may make spacewalk
July 16, 1997
Web posted at: 3:24 p.m. EDT (1924 GMT)
MOSCOW (CNN) -- The commander of the Mir is unfit to repair the crippled Russian space station and NASA has tentatively agreed to have his American crewmate train for the crucial mission, Russian officials said Wednesday.
But NASA gave conflicting accounts as to whether an agreement had been reached to let U.S. astronaut Michael Foale begin preparing for the mission.
Foale is being considered for the repair mission because commander Vasily Tsibliyev is suffering from an irregular heartbeat and has been declared unfit for the much-needed repairs.
"We have tentatively agreed that the American astronaut and the Russian flight engineer (Alexander Lazutkin) will have a practice run on Monday, July 21," said Russian Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov. "Then, we'll make a final decision with our NASA colleagues on whether to carry out the spacewalk."
He added, "Without a doubt, the American astronaut agreed. It was clear that the proposition delighted him."
Repairs designed to restore full power to the Mir, a mission twice delayed, are scheduled to begin July 24.
NASA sends conflicting message
However, NASA officials in Moscow and at the Johnson Space Center in Houston said they had not yet assented to Foale taking part and were still evaluating what would be expected of him.
For now, NASA spokeswoman Catherine Watson said in Moscow, "He can do some basic things, but no official simulations or the actual spacewalk -- none of that's been approved by NASA yet."
Earlier Wednesday, another NASA spokeswoman in Russia, Kathleen Maliga, confirmed Solovyov's account. There was no explanation for the discrepancy.
Foale began making routine preparations Wednesday, which included checking his spacesuit and studying documents, Solovyov said.
Medical condition hampers cosmonaut
Lazutkin and Tsibliyev, the two Russian cosmonauts on Mir, were to carry out repairs this weekend to return the spacecraft to full power after a June 25 collision with a cargo ship.
But Tsibliyev's irregular heartbeat forced Russian officials to reconsider his role and delay the mission.
"As the commander has medical problems, we have decided that he shouldn't take part in the trip into the Spektr," Solovyov said. The repair work should take about four to five hours.
The task requires two of the three Mir crew members to put on pressurized spacesuits and reattach disconnected power cables in the station's Spektr module, which lost pressure in the collision.
The plan now is for the other Russian cosmonaut, Lazutkin, to go into the Spektr module and for Foale to deal with the cables and a new hatch, according to Russian officials.
The third crew member is to be in the Soyuz escape capsule, ready to make a getaway should anything go awry during the repairs. Foale was to assume that role before Tsibliyev's heart problem was detected.
NASA mulls decision
NASA officials told CNN that if the two sides can come to an agreement Thursday, then Foale would begin unsuited rehearsals for the spacewalk, possibly later Thursday. If he is successful in the unsuited practice runs, he would be allowed to conduct the rehearsal wearing the spacesuit as early as Monday, officials said.
NASA Mir program manager Frank Culbertson said he is spending most of his time on the phone with his Russian space agency colleague, Vallery Ryumin, discussing the pros and cons of allowing Foale to conduct the spacewalk.
The pros include the fact that he's there, he's trained in the Russian spacesuit and the Mir commander is not physically up to conducting the walk.
The cons are that Foale's last spacesuit training was in November 1996 in a water tank in Russia and that there is very little time for him to prepare for the walk. Foale has indicated he wants to do the walk if he can be trained in time.
Despite Mir's recent problems, both the Russians and the Americans say it remains safe and the crew is in no danger. Russia is determined to press ahead with additional Mir missions until 1999.
The Russians are eager to solve the problem before the next crew arrives August 5. Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov spent three hours Tuesday in a giant pool at Star City, near Moscow, also training to do the repairs -- just in case of further delays.
Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty, Correspondent Steve Harrigan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- NASA: No more astronauts on Mir until it is safe, productive - July 6, 1997
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- Crucial Mir repairs delayed - July 4, 1997
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Related sites:
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- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web
information about the Mir Space station is provided by NASA
- Spektr - section of the space station that was hit
- MIR Space Station - Radio Transmit Info
includes 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 AgencyExternal sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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