|
New crew to carry out Mir repairs
July 21, 1997
Web posted at: 3:18 p.m. EDT (1918 GMT)MOSCOW (CNN) -- Urgent repairs to the badly damaged Russian space station Mir will be carried out by a new team, and not by the current three-member crew, U.S. and Russian space officials said Monday.
NASA also said it would send a new U.S. astronaut to join Mir later in the year, despite recent problems with the space station.
Frank Culbertson, NASA's shuttle-Mir program manager, confirmed at a Monday news conference that Russian and U.S. officials decided to delay the repairs after a thorough evaluation of the situation.
Russian Deputy Flight Director Igor Goncharov earlier in the day announced that the repairs "will be undertaken after the present crew leaves on August 14."
"One of the reasons we have canceled the spacewalk by this crew was their condition, their exhaustion," Goncharov said.
Culbertson said the new crew would have to carry out two spacewalks.
He said a first spacewalk would likely take place August 20, when cosmonauts, wearing bulky spacesuits, will have to enter the damaged Spektr module.
The module was punctured when an unmanned cargo craft maneuvered by Mir commander Vasily Tsibliyev collided with the space station on June 25, punching a small hole in the Spektr module and smashing one of its solar panels.
Only split-second thinking saved the three men aboard as air hissed out of the module. Spektr was sealed off. But shutting the hatches also meant disconnecting the module's three undamaged solar panels, cutting Mir's electricity supply by up to half.
Culbertson said the new crew would have to carry out a second spacewalk to assess external damage to the station. That mission is expected to take place September 3.
The new Mir crew includes Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov, who are currently in training at Star City outside the capital. The new team is scheduled to blast off on August 5 for a two-day space flight.
NASA said Monday that, despite all the technical difficulties and problems with Mir, U.S. astronaut Wendy Lawrence would replace British-born astronaut Michael Foale when a U.S. space shuttle arrives at Mir on September 20.
However, Russian and U.S. space officials decided that Frenchman Leopold Eyharts would not be part of the August 5 relief mission. Eyharts is now scheduled to head to Mir in January 1998.
Monday's decision came as no surprise. The current three-man crew aboard Mir had been under considerable stress as they battled a series of calamities. In yet another incident on Thursday, a tired crewman crashed the on-board computer by pulling out a wrong cable.
Ground control also has been monitoring the condition of Tsibliyev, who complained of heart trouble last week.
Goncharov said on Monday that Tsibliyev was "feeling good" and sleeping well, and that doctors who performed tests on him said they did not see any further sign of an irregular heartbeat.
Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty, Correspondent Ryan Chilcotte and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Mir commander to undergo heart tests - July 20, 1997
- 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:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- 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
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
Watch these shows on CNN for more sci-tech stories:
CNN Computer Connection | Future Watch | Science & Technology Week
Sound off on our message boards
Tell us what you think!
You said it...
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.