Tim Furniss/LONDON
The Mir space station is under "full control" after a 21h loss of contact on 26 December caused by a battery problem, according to the Russian Space Agency.
Anatoli Kiselev, director of the Khrunichev space company which built Mir, has also cited "loss of vigilance" as an issue. Kiselev says that communications engineers were concentrating on the International Space Station (ISS) and allowed the power consumption on Mir to exceed its supply.
The problem has focused attention on the need to de-orbit Mir safely. Khrunichev chief, Yuri Koptev says: "We have no right to run the risk" any longer.
The planned controlled de-orbit of Mir will take place in February/March, when two Progress tankers will make the final burns which will induce a controlled re-entry.
The first Progress will be launched on 16 January. A Soyuz TM crew of two cosmonauts, Gannadi Padalka and Nikolai Budarin, will only be launched if there is an emergency, requiring them to repair systems on the station. Even without the planned de-orbit manoeuvre, there is no danger of a re-entry until March, says Koptev.
As Mir is prepared for its demise, NASA claims that the ISS is going to be the "first permanently occupied space station". The UK's Molniya Space Consultancy, however, points out that crews were aboard Mir continuously "two weeks short of 10 years between September 1989 and August 1999".
• The Progress M1-4 unmanned tanker craft has been re-docked to the ISS by crewman Yuri Gidzenko, using the ISS Toru system.
The Progress was undocked on 1 December.
Source: Flight International
