Mir Station Will Crash Into Pacific OceanThe 14-year-old Mir space station, once a symbol of Soviet space glory, will be ditched in February in a controlled descent that will send it hurtling into a remote area of the Pacific Ocean, Russia's Cabinet decided Thursday.The decision came after months of wrestling over what to do with the Mir, which Moscow can no longer afford to maintain. The Mir is by far history's longest-serving space station, and Russians have been reluctant to let it go. The Russian government had decided to abandon the Mir earlier this year, but extended its lifetime after the private Netherlands-based MirCorp leased time on Mir and promised to pay for its operation. While MirCorp financed a mission to Mir earlier this year, it has failed to meet other commitments, forcing the government to divert funds allocated to the new international station to maintain the Mir. The Mir was hailed as revolutionary when it went up in 1986, and has far surpassed the three to five years it was expected to last. |
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