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| S P E C I A L | Repairing Mir |
Former Russian Mir crew may be fined for June collision
September 2, 1997
Web posted at: 11:27 a.m. EDT (1527 GMT)
MOSCOW (CNN) -- Responsibility for the June 25 collision between an unmanned cargo vessel and the Mir space station fully lies with the Russian crew, which would likely be fined for the incident, a senior Russian space official said Tuesday.
Valery Ryumin, coordinator of the Mir-NASA program, said that a report by a special space commission concluded "beyond any doubt" that Mir's commander at the time, Vasily Tsibliyev, and flight engineer Alexander Lazutkin were responsible for the collision.
Ryumin said the report based its conclusions on interviews with the cosmonauts and computer data. The official report was to be published Thursday.
Ryumin did not say how the cosmonauts might be disciplined for the accident but added "probably we will have to fine them by cutting down the pay due to them under their space contract."
The crew spent a crisis-filled six months aboard Mir, before they were replaced. They returned to Earth on August 14.
They blamed the collision on equipment aboard the space station, which is being used much longer than originally scheduled, and has shown clear signs of aging.
"It's easy to find scapegoats," Tsibliyev told reporters within hours of landing. "But tomorrow a similar problem may happen with another cargo ship."
The June collision severely damaged the Spektr science module, which was punctured and had to be sealed off. Because of this emergency measure, power aboard Mir dropped by about 50 percent.
Spacewalk Saturday
Mir's new crew is preparing for Saturday's external spacewalk, during which they will try to repair the spacecraft. They managed to install a new hatch to the Spektr module and reconnect several power cables in an earlier internal spacewalk.
On Saturday, Russian commander Anatoly Solovyov and NASA physicist Michael Foale were scheduled to begin their mission at 0:55 a.m. GMT (Friday, 8:55 p.m. EDT), Russian Mission control spokeswoman Irina Manshilina told CNN.
During the spacewalk, commander Solovyov will tether his way down to the Spektr module on a crane-like device. Foale, stationed at the base of the crane, will be at the controls and maneuver Solovyov toward the Spektr module, Manshilina said.
Solovyov will make a visual inspection of the Spektr module's exterior in an attempt to locate the holes from the collision. According to Manshilina, Russian Mission Control officials believe there may be as many as seven holes.
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:
- Mir crew prepares for external spacewalk - September 1, 1997
- Russian bureaucrat in space? - August 26, 1997
- Mir crew takes well-earned rest - August 23, 1997
- Mir plugged in again - August 22, 1997
Related sites:
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- Oxygen candles from NASA's Mir pages
- American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology
- Russian Space Science Internet
- Russian Space Research Institute (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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