Mir cargo vessel abandoned

January 29, 2001
Web posted at: 2:57 p.m. EST (1957 GMT)

MOSCOW Russia (AP) -- Russian ground controllers have discarded a cargo vessel from the Mir space station, sending it burning into the Earth's atmosphere.

The manuever on Monday was one of several carried out by Russian space controllers to prepare the 15-year-old troubled Mir for destruction in March.

The Progress M43 had been separated from the uninhabited station using remote controls on Thursday, and blasted away from the Mir.

When a new cargo vessel successfully docked on Saturday, the old one was no longer any use.

REFERENCE Russia's Mir Space Station  • Timeline  • Cult 3-D Model  • Message board  • News search

Controllers sent a command to fire the vessel's thrusters and push it into the thicker layers of Earth's atmosphere, said Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin.

Forty-five minutes later, some debris splashed into the Pacific Ocean east of Australia, he said.

The cargo vessels are routinely discarded in this way.

But Monday's splashdown was also a dress rehearsal for the more dramatic and technically-challenging operation to destroy the Mir, tentatively scheduled for March 6.

The 137-ton station will be discarded in the same area of the South Pacific.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Last rendezvous for Mir
January 27, 2001
Beginning of the end for Mir
January 24, 2001

Mir Station
Russian Space Industry

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