THE NEXT LONG-duration flight by a US astronaut aboard the Russian Mir 1 space station will be marred by a delay in the launch of a new Russian module in which US experiments will be conducted.
The much-delayed launch of the Priroda module - the last to be sent to the Mir 1, to complete its construction after ten years in orbit - has been pushed back by at least a month, to no earlier than 15 April, three weeks after the launch of astronaut Shannon Lucid aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis/STS76 on the third Shuttle Mir Mission.
NASA expects that further delays could be experienced, leaving Lucid - planning a five-month stay aboard the Mir 1 - without much of her planned equipment.
The delay has dented NASA's confidence that Russia will fulfil promises to launch elements of the Alpha Space Station on time. The first launch of a Russian module for the Alpha is scheduled for November 1997. The sequence of launches of other Russian equipment has already been altered.
Source: Flight International
