Mir Will Plunge to Earth On FridayRussian space officials said Monday the Mir space station will be dumped Friday, one day later than planned, and the parliament speaker made an appeal for President Vladimir Putin to grant the aging station a reprieve.Space officials had previously set Mir's controlled descent into the South Pacific for early Thursday, but said Monday it would be postponed by one day because the station's orbit was dropping more slowly than expected. Mir was orbiting about 142 miles above the Earth on Monday and was expected to drift down two more miles by Tuesday. Mission Control wants Mir to descend to 132 miles before aligning the station for the final maneuver. If everything goes according to plan, a cargo ship docked at the station will fire its engines twice during two consecutive orbits to lower the station further and then, several hours later, fire one last time to send the Mir hurtling into the South Pacific between Australia and Chile at around 1 a.m. EST Friday (Beijing Time: 2 p.m. Friday). |
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