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Mir commander to undergo heart tests
Crew enjoys day of rest
July 20, 1997
Web posted at: 1:44 p.m. EDT (1744 GMT)MOSCOW (CNN) -- The ailing 43-year-old commander of the Mir space station was to undergo an electrocardiogram Sunday to let doctors monitor his heart, which has recently registered an irregular beat.
Vasily Tsibliyev's irregular heartbeat was most likely caused by stress and fatigue from his more than five months in orbit.
An electrocardiogram is a common test used in the diagnosis of heart disease. The results of the test are personal information and would not be made public, said Cathy Watson, a spokeswoman for the NASA team at Russian Mission Control.
Russian space officials, meanwhile, kept behind closed doors Sunday and barred reporters from entering the control center.
They said there would be no new updates until Monday, when officials were expected to formally decide to postpone a complex repair mission to restore power to Mir until a new crew arrives at the space station next month.
For the current three-man crew, Sunday was designated as a day of rest. The astronauts kept to light tasks, testing the station's gyroscope system and its solar batteries, drained last week during a power outage.
"Everything's stable. Things are basically back to normal," Watson said.
She added that the crew members were scheduled to speak to their families Sunday, which should also boost their spirits.
Russian space officials told Interfax news agency the crew fixed another of the gyrodine devices that are vital in keeping the crippled space station in proper orientation to the sun. Eight of Mir's 12 gyrodines were now working, officials said.
U.S. astronaut 'disappointed'
Russian space officials, after conferring with NASA, said Saturday that it would be best if Tsibliyev and cosmonaut Alexander Lazutkin returned to Earth next month and let a replacement crew conduct a tricky internal spacewalk needed to restore power to Mir.
The station's next crew -- Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov -- has been practicing the repair in an underwater tank at Russia's cosmonaut training center outside Moscow.
The repairs are needed to reattach cables disconnected following the station's collision last month with a cargo ship. The impact punched a hole in the station's Spektr module, forcing the crew to seal it off and disconnect its solar panels. The station has been operating on half-power ever since.
During the repair, a cosmonaut will have to re-enter the depressurized Spektr, assess the damage, install a retrofitted hatch and reconnect the cables. A crewmate will assist from the hatchway.
With the new crew due to arrive in early August, U.S. astronaut Michael Foale, who had been tapped to stand in for Tsibliyev during the repair job, will return to his original standby role. He expressed disappointment Sunday that he won't be able to take part in the repairs.
"He was disappointed. He was looking forward to the spacewalk," Watson said. "But he is a team player, and he understands."
Foale is scheduled to remain on Mir until a space shuttle picks him up in September.
Crucial decisions ahead
Russian space officials were preparing for a series of decisions on salvaging the repair mission, which has already been delayed several times.
An engineers meeting was scheduled for Monday, in which officials were expected to formalize the decision to delay the repairs until the next crew arrives.
They are also expected to announce whether French astronaut Leopold Eyharts will postpone his trip to the orbiting station until next year. He had been scheduled to blast off with the new Russian crew on August 5.
But mission control chief Vladimir Solovyov said Saturday that Eyharts' experiments will take more energy than the station can provide. He also said they need the space Eyharts would take up during launch to send more equipment to the station.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Fresh crew may step in for Mir spacewalk - July 18, 1997
- Mir loses all power after accident - July 17, 1997
- Life in space not so bad, says U.S. astronaut aboard Mir - February 10, 1997
Related sites:
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- American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology
- Russian Space Science Internet
- Russian Space Research Insstitute (IKI)
- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web
- Keith's MIR Page
- ISS Phase I - Space Station Mir
- Russian Space Agency
- MIR Space Station - Maximov Online
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