Old problems dog new Mir crew

MOSCOW, Aug 19: If the new crew of Mir thought its voyage would be trouble-free, it now knows otherwise. The space station's main computer ...

MOSCOW, Aug 19: If the new crew of Mir thought its voyage would be trouble-free, it now knows otherwise. The space station8217;s main computer failed on Monday during a cargo ship docking, sending Mir wobbling through space on another uncertain voyage.

Russian space officials said the breakdown wasn8217;t life-threatening, but it was hardly good news for the 11-year-old orbiting outpost, which has careened through crisis after crisis since early this year.

Among other things, it meant that vital repairs to Mir8217;s power system would be delayed yet another time. And it left the Mir flying without the use of most of its on-board flight control systems, including the gyroscopes that orient the space station and its solar power panels toward the sun.

8220;We don8217;t know the consequences of this chaotic flight,8221; conceded mission control chief Vladimir Solovyov. Still, both Russian and American space officials seemed to take the latest setback in stride, and flight controllers were able to joke with Mir8217;s crew within hours of the mishap.

8220;They8217;re not in any danger,8221; said Kathleen Maliga, a spokeswoman for the NASA team at Russian Mission Control. 8220;They8217;re fine. This has happened before,8221; she added.

It has, and Monday8217;s failure may provide some small comfort to Mir8217;s last crew of two cosmonauts, who returned to earth last week to face a barrage of questions about the many breakdowns they endured.

The latest crisis is similar to a computer crash in July, which also left the station without its orientation system. The course of action for the crew this time is expected to be the same: use Soyuz thrusters to roughly orient Mir toward the sun, wait for the batteries to begin to recharge, turn on the gyroscopes to orient the ship more precisely, and then gradually turn on its systems as the batteries fully recharge.

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8220;It8217;s not a super-complex situation,8221; Solovyov said. The entire process is expected to take about two days. By Monday evening, the crew had used the thrusters aboard the attached Soyuz capsule to turn the station back toward the sun, and its batteries began recharging, Maliga said. 8220;They seem to be generating some power in the attitude they are in. So they8217;re not worried and they8217;re going to let the crew go to sleep and work on the problem.8221;