Crash Date Set for MirIt looks as though Tuesday, 6 March, will be the day the Mir space station crashes back to Earth.A final decision on when to "scuttle" the platform depends on whether a cargo ship carrying extra fuel is able to dock with Mir later this month, said Russian space agency spokesman Konstantin Kreidenko. The unmanned Progress vessel is scheduled for launch on Thursday this week from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will attempt to dock with the station on 22 January, Kreidenko said. Progress vehicles have routinely docked with Mir in the station's 15 years of operation, but some have required manual steering from cosmonauts inside the station. Russia has an emergency crew standing by to fly to the Mir in case the latest Progress flight fails to dock using the automated system. |
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