Russia's Mir Descends to Pre-Crash Orbit

The Russian space station Mir Wednesday descended to a critical altitude of 220 kilometers, which has been set as its last pre-crash orbit, said a spokesman for the Mission Control Center outside Moscow.

Russian specialists are now calculating a trajectory for finally taking the space jumbo out of the critical orbit, the spokesman said.

"The Mir's orbit is falling according to our plan, and permanent communication with the station is maintained," he said. An analysis of the received telemetric information shows that all flight systems of the orbital station are operating normally.

Experts from the space mission control center will begin active operations to orient the space station for recharging its solar batteries and finally bringing it down in the small hours of Thursday, he added.

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