Repairs Planned for Stricken Mir Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —  Repair gear for a daring rewiring job could be launched to the stricken Mir space station as early as July 5, NASA officials said Friday.

The Russian space authorities were leaning toward an internal repair to restore electrical power lost when an out-of-control cargo ship plowed into Mir’s Spektr science module, said Frank Culbertson, who oversees NASA’s missions to Mir.

Wearing bulky space suits, Mir commander Vasily Tsibliev and engineer Alexander Lazutkin would install a modified hatch in the doorway of Spektr so cables could be connected to tap electricity from the module’s solar arrays. The work would be attempted in mid-July.

“This will be rehearsed very well on orbit and on the ground prior to doing it,” Culbertson said.

There were no immediate plans to fix the breached hull of the damaged module.

The repair gear would be delivered to Mir aboard a new Progress cargo craft, scheduled to blast off July 5-8 from the Russian cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. If all went according to plan, the Progress would arrive at Mir two days later.

Wednesday’s collision left the orbital outpost with only half its usual supply of power and robbed it of its most efficient batteries, used when the station is in darkness.