Several plans have been worked out to bring the Russian space station Mir out of orbit, chief designer of the Russian aerospace corporation Energiya Yuri Semyonov told a Saturday press conference at the mission control center in Korolyov in the Moscow region.
The most critical point in Mir's further operation is its orientation for being brought out of orbit and forming a trajectory for its descent, Semyonov said.
To save as much rocket fuel as possible, the station's further flight with the docked transport spacecraft Progress will be carried out in the regime of a so called "twist" along both the longitudinal and lateral axes.
In early March, the station will begin receiving brake impulses for bringing it out of orbit, "and its orientation should be maintained very carefully at that moment," Semyonov said, adding he hopes that specialists will tackle this problem successfully.
The Energiya chief designer gave the thumbs up to the docking of the cargo spacecraft Progress with Mir on Saturday, saying that it went without any problems, "which proves that specialists have gained vast experience in operating the station."
Over the 15 years Mir has been in orbit, 100 craft have docked with the station and 101 rockets were launched to it, Semyonov said. "In addition, Shuttles docked with it nine times," he added.
At the same time, the chief designer admitted that there are numerous defects on Mir at the moment, many of which are difficult to fix now, and therefore it is time to finish operating the station.
Copyright 2001
