Mir's Death Date Set -- March 6



By Yuri Karash

Moscow Contributing Correspondent



Two Russian space agencies have agreed on March 6 as the official day for the

deorbiting of the Mir space station -- its date with death.



According to the plan made by the Russian Aviation and Space Agency

(Rosaviacosmos) and RKK Energia (Mir's operator), a Progress M1-5 cargo ship

with increased fuel capacity will be launched to Mir on January 18, at 1:56

a.m. Eastern Standard Time (06:56 GMT; 9:56 a.m. Moscow time). The next day,

a Progress M-43 cargo ship already at the station will be undocked from the

outpost for a deorbit set for January 23.



Meanwhile, the Progress M1-5 will take four days to complete its journey to

Mir -- twice as long as a conventional cargo flight to the outpost. The

longer trip is designed to conserve the cargo ship's fuel for the robotic

deorbiting procedure, which will require a large amount of propellant.



A four-day "chase" of Mir by a cargo ship was tested during a Progress M-43

flight to Mir in October 2000.



Instead of using its rather fuel-thirsty main engine, the Progress M1-5 will

rely on its smaller engines for approach and orientation. The ship is set to

dock to Mir’s Kvant module on January 22, at 3:00 a.m. EST (08:00 GMT; 11:00

a.m. Moscow time). If there are any problems docking, Russia will send up an

emergency crew of cosmonauts to complete the procedure.



Mir's gyrodines, used to control the station's attitude, will be turned off

on Feb. 10.



On March 4 and 5, the Progress will fire three pulses designed to brake the

station's orbital velocity. The first two pulses will decrease Mir’s speed by



23 feet (7 meters) per second each, while the third one will decrease the

station’s speed by 46 feet (14 meters) per second.



On March 6, the Progress will generate the final "killing pulse" which should

decrease Mir’s speed by 56.8 feet (17.3 meters) per second, slowing it enough



to drop out of orbit and plunge into the Pacific Ocean later that day.



The deliberate ditching of the Russian outpost will produce a sizeable shower

of hardware that will reach Earth's surface.



Over the years, Mir has become a fixture in orbit. The central core of the

Russian station was hurled into space on February 20, 1986.



But now, just a little more than 15 years later, it will be lights out for

the complex of large docked modules, sets of solar panels, antennas and

various pieces of attached equipment.



Related news: boosts to cooperation



Two recent developments in Russian law will give a boost to U.S.-Russian

cooperation in space.



The first piece of legislation confirmed the government's intention to

proceed with its cooperation with Canada, the European Space Agency, Japan

and the United States in the International Space Station program.



The second piece of legislation involves technology transfers between Russia,

Kazakhstan and the United States and was aimed at enhancing exchanges between

the owners of Russian and Western satellites launched by Russian rockets.



On December 29, these ratified documents became federal laws after being

signed by Russia's President Vladimir Putin.