US entrepreneur Walt Anderson plans to set up a new company, Mir Corp, with Energia and other investors to refurbish the Mir and offer trips to the Russian space station.
Anderson, who heads the Gold & Appel investment company, will go ahead with the plan if the Russian mission to Mir in March finds that the space station can be refurbished. Mir has been unmanned since August.
Anderson has already paid $7 million to Energia to keep the Mir station operational beyond June, when it is due to be de-orbited. Anderson plans to invest a further $14.2 million, with some or all of the money made available after a Progress M-1 tanker has arrived at the space station in early February to prepare for the March mission.
Mir Corp would offer trips to the orbiting base at $40 million for the first visitor and $25 million for subsequent trips.
Meanwhile, the Russian Space Agency says the Zvezda service module for the International Space Station is ready for launch and is being delayed only by difficulties with the Proton booster. Russia wants at least three successful Proton flights before attempting the Zvezda launch.
The second-stage engines that failed on two Proton launches in July and October last year were manufactured in 1992-3, it has been revealed.
The Proton engines will "undergo a number of design changes", says the Russian Space Agency, including a reduction in the number of components, rivets and welds, resulting in lengthy delays to Proton launches.
US Republican congressman Dave Weldon, an influential NASA observer, has urged the space agency to begin preparations to launch the Interim Control Module (ICM) in place of the delayed Russian service module.
It will take between seven and nine months to make the Shuttle mission ready for the ICM.
Source: Flight International
