The joint government commission for taking the Mir space station out of orbit, on Friday set the date for the launching of a Progress M1-5 cargo ship to the station for the morning of January 24 and its docking with Mir for January 27.

Head of the Russian Aerospace Agency Yuri Koptev told Interfax: "If the conditions are most unfavorable, such as loss of contact with the station or a loss of orientation, then a manned mission will be sent to the station. A spacecraft for such a flight has been prepared at the Baikonur cosmodrome.

However, he was sure that a manned mission will not be needed because Mir is currently "fully controlled by Mission Control."

Previous Related Report – Jan 5

'Emergency' Crews Ready To Fly In A Week

Three "emergency" crews will be prepared to fly up to the Russian space station Mir in a week at most, head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut training center Pyotr Klimuk said in an interview with Interfax.

The standby cosmonauts will go up to Mir only if it becomes necessary in order to ensure that the station is safely deorbited, Klimuk said. "These crews will have their final complex test training January 9-12, on the basis of which the state committee will decide on their readiness to go to Mir," he said.

"The crew will be chosen depending on the situation with the [space station's] orbit," he explained. "In the case of emergency [problems with the station's orientation, loss of communication with the station or other serious difficulties] our most experienced cosmonauts–commander of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft Gennady Padalka and onboard engineer Nikolai Budarin– will fly," Klimuk said.

According to Klimuk, in the case of less serious problems (for example, if the Progress MI ship cannot dock with Mir automatically), commander Salizhan Sharipov and onboard engineer Pavel Vinogradov will go on the mission.

There is yet another standby crew: commander Talgat Musabayev and onboard engineer Yuri Baturin. Klimuk said he regrets the fact that the Russian government decided to deorbit Mir and send it splashing into the Pacific Ocean. In his opinion, he said, the constant presence of cosmonauts on the station could make it possible to use it a few more years. Klimuk did say he believes, however, that "it is becoming dangerous to continue letting the station fly unmanned."

He said that if ending the space station's working life goes as planned, no cosmonauts will go. Mir will have been deorbited by the spring.

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