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| S P E C I A L | Repairing Mir |
Mir's main computer fails, station begins to tumble
August 18, 1997
Web posted at: 10:55 a.m. EDT (1455 GMT)MOSCOW (CNN) -- Mir's main computer system failed Monday, causing the space station to rotate out of control. Russian space officials described the failure as "serious," but said the three-member Russian-American crew was not in danger.
The main computer guides the space station's orientation system, which adjusts Mir's electricity generating solar panels toward the sun. Russian officials said the problem with the solar panels would not be corrected until at least early Tuesday.
CNN's John Holliman explains what happens when Mir's main computer fails
NASA officials at Russian Mission Control said they did not consider the situation dangerous.
"It's a situation that we'll watch carefully, but we're not worried," said Kathleen Maliga, a NASA spokeswoman.
The computer failure came shortly after the automatic pilot system failed on the Progress supply ship, forcing cosmonauts to dock with the ship manually.
Damage to Mir from the unmanned capsule that crashed into it.
192 K/24 sec. Slide show
Russian space officials said 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.
An internal spacewalk into the damaged Spektr module that had been planned for Wednesday would be delayed, Russian space officials said.
Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty 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:
- Cargo craft docks manually with Mir space station - 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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