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| S P E C I A L | Repairing Mir |
Cargo craft docks manually with Mir space station
Automatic pilot fails in last moments
August 18, 1997
Web posted at: 10:02 a.m. EDT (1002 GMT)MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian Space officials said Monday the computerized automatic pilot system aboard a Progress supply ship failed 13 minutes before docking, and Mir's commander, Anatoly Solovyov, decided to perform the docking manually.
It was during a manual docking June 25 that the Mir suffered its worst accident in history, when a Progress supply ship crashed into the Spektr module.
The Progress redocking took place at 8:53 a.m. EDT. Space officials had originally hoped to dock the unmanned cargo ship Sunday using the automatic docking system, but postponed the maneuver for one day because of a computer problem.
NASA quoted Russian flight controllers as saying the computer on the Progress craft shut itself down as a safety precaution Sunday when it received conflicting commands from the ground.
On Wednesday, cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov are scheduled to make an internal space walk into the damaged Spektr module to reconnect power cables leading to its solar panels.
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The cables were disconnected in an emergency move during the June collision, causing the space station to lose half its power. Experts said that if successful, the reconnection will restore 90 percent of Mir's power supply.
A second spacewalk outside Mir is planned for September 3, when crew members will try to pinpoint and possibly repair the hole in the module.
Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
· MIR MAIN PAGE · RELATED SITES · HISTORY ·
· TIMELINE · GALLERY · SOYUZ · CREW · REPAIR MISSION ·
- CNN In-Depth: Space
- Video Almanac: 1996 - Mir and Atlantis dock
- Video Almanac: 1986 - Soviets launch Mir
- Message Board: Repairing Mir
Related stories:
- Russians plan another docking attempt - August 18, 1997
- Mir-go-round mission completed - August 15, 1997
- Mir cosmonauts prepare to return home - August 13, 1997
- Tough spacewalks, repairs await new Mir crew - August 8, 1997
Related sites:
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- American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology
- Russian Space Science Internet
- Russian Space Research Insstitute (IKI)
- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web
- Keith's MIR Page
- ISS Phase I - Space Station Mir
- Russian Space Agency
- MIR Space Station - Maximov Online
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