The Russian Energia company, which manages Soyuz and Mir missions, looks likely to cancel the Mir mission planned for August, because of funding difficulties.
The move comes as Russian President Boris Yeltsin has instructed his space officials to concentrate on the International Space Station (ISS) rather than the Mir.
Yeltsin supports plans to extend the life of the Mir, but only if it is funded privately. The Russian Space Agency says the Mir space station will fly until next February, "regardless of the money issue".
The August Mir mission is unlikely to go ahead following the loss of private funding from UK businessman Peter Llewellyn. Russian officials had started to train Llewellyn, who was due to fly with cosmonauts Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri on the Mir commercial mission in exchange for payment. Llewellyn said he was paying for the $12 million mission outright from his own income, but Energia had received no guarantee that he could provide funding.
• Russia's ISS Service Module Zvezda is at Baikonur being prepared for its launch in "four and a half months". This date could be difficult to meet, however, because of budget problems.
Source: Flight International
