DATE=8/28/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MIR CREW RETURNS / L
NUMBER=2-253211
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Two Russians and a French cosmonaut have closed
the "Mir" space station and returned to earth --
possibly ending the orbiter's 13-year adventure that
once made it the pride of the Soviet Union. V-O-A's
Peter Heinlein reports from Moscow.
TEXT: A Soyuz landing capsule, carrying Russian
cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev and Sergei Avdeyev along
with Frenchman Jean-Pierre Heignere, made a soft
landing in the barren desert of Kazakhstan, shortly
after midnight Saturday, universal time.
It was a bittersweet occasion. Before putting the Mir
station on autopilot and heading for home, crew
Commander Afanasyev expressed his disappointment at
the decline of Russia's space program. He says "We are
leaving behind a piece of Russia -- quitting what we
built in space without knowing what more we are going
to construct."
The station is being closed because Russia's cash-
strapped space agency cannot afford the $250 million
dollars a year to keep it running. Instead, officials
have chosen to pour their limited resources into the
new international space station, which should be
manned sometime next year.
Unless private funding can be found -- which is a dim
prospect, at best -- a two-man crew will travel to
Mir briefly early next year to prepare it for its
final journey back into the earth's atmosphere. Most
of it will disintegrate on re-entry. The rest is
supposed to plunge into the Pacific Ocean.
Cosmonaut Avdeyev returns to earth with the record for
the most time in space -- 742 days, including more
than a year in his last stint aboard Mir. (signed)
Neb/pfh / wd / wd
28-Aug-1999 00:50 AM LOC (28-Aug-1999 0450 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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