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| S P E C I A L | Mir: Mission off Course |
Mir cosmonauts prepare to return home
August 13, 1997
Web posted at: 2:23 p.m. EDT (1823 GMT)
MOSCOW (Reuter) -- Two Russian cosmonauts aboard Mir made final preparations Wednesday to return to Earth after one of the most grueling missions in the space station's 11-year history, officials said.
Russian commander Vasily Tsibliyev and engineer Alexander Lazutkin have endured a series of major woes since they came aboard in February.
The most serious incident was a June 25 collision between Mir and its resupply ship. Mir has run on partial power since then.
After the crash, the worst in Mir's history, Tsibliyev began suffering heart irregularities, which doctors said was related to stress. He was given heart medication that has since been discontinued, and will take no special pills for his Thursday return, a top medical adviser said.
"There will be no special medication or measures for his return; everything is routine," Irina Alfyerova, head of Mission Control's medical group, told Reuters.
"He's just taking the usual at the final stage of the flight such as vitamin supplements and mineral-salted water."
Tsibliyev and Lazutkin planned to enter a Soyuz capsule at 9:50 a.m. Thursday, undock at 12:53 p.m. and land at 4:16 p.m. in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.
They will return to the Moscow region that night, and begin a period of rehabilitation at the Star City cosmonaut training center that typically lasts three to four weeks.
Their replacement Russian cosmonauts, commander Anatoly Solovyov and engineer Pavel Vinogradov, as well as NASA astronaut Michael Foale, also prepared Wednesday to fly their escape capsule to another docking port on Mir, said Valery Lyndin, a spokesman for Mission Control outside Moscow.
During that 45-minute operation planned for Friday the crew will take photos of the sealed-off Spektr module, which suffered a puncture in the June accident.
Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
· MIR MAIN PAGE · RELATED SITES · HISTORY ·
· TIMELINE · GALLERY · SOYUZ · CREW · REPAIR MISSION ·
Related stories:
- Foale may join Russians in spacewalk to repair Mir - August 12, 1997
- Mir repair spacewalk scheduled - August 11, 1997
- Tough spacewalks, repairs await new Mir crew - August 8, 1997
- New crew makes it to Mir - August 7, 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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