Private investors to keep Mir on orbit

Mir

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russia announced Wednesday it would use private funding to keep its beloved Mir space station going for three more years instead of only until mid-1999, when they had planned to discard it.

Yuri Semionov, head of Energia aeronautics company, which operates Mir, said investors were now ready to put up money to prolong the life the aging outpost.

Russian authorities and cosmonauts have said there is nothing technically wrong with Mir.

Semionov said he had asked Russian Premier Yevgeny Primakov to provide guarantees for the unnamed investors.

Energia built the Mir and is pushing to extend the space station's stay in orbit in spite of international demands that Russia spend all of its limited resources earmarked for space on the new International Space Station.

Semyonov refused to identify the investors, or say how much funding they would provide. He said that the Russian government is already drafting a document that would provide guarantees for the Mir investment, and that a funding agreement can be signed as soon as that document is completed.

Russia has been roundly criticized for spending money on Mir while being unable to finish components for the International Space Station on time -- causing delays in that project. The first two elements of the 16-nation project were launched into orbit over the last two months.

Mir's first unit was launched in 1986, and the space station has been manned ever since. The Mir program lost some credibility during a string of incidents in 1997, including an onboard fire and a collision with a cargo craft that nearly cost the lives of crew members.

Mir currently houses two Russian cosmonauts. A joint crew of Russian, French and Slovak astronauts is expected to be sent to Mir in February.

The Russian space station costs about $200 million a year to run.