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)
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Source: Voice of America
.