Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (57977)	1/2/2001 9:47:07 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

Now, see, this is what comes of being out of the loop. I already posted that to the Fredster last week. I got it from whattheheck.com, the website that asks the question, What the Heck? whattheheck.com

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (57977)	1/5/2001 10:30:41 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71178

Russians Order Discarding of Mir MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's prime minister has signed a decree ordering work to begin on a gradual lowering and discarding of the 15-year-old space station Mir, news reports said Friday. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov ordered Russian space commanders to ensure a ``controlled de-orbiting and sinking'' of the 140-ton space ship in February or March, ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing Kasyanov's office. The decree also said a special commission will be formed to oversee the work, according to the report. Kasyanov's decree did not give the exact date for the planned descent, but space officials have said earlier that they would launch a cargo ship to push the Mir down in a controlled manner on Feb. 27-28. It takes two days to reach the station from Earth. Space experts say they would prefer to send a crew to ensure a trouble-free docking with the cargo ship, but space officials still apparently hope to do the job with an unmanned cargo vessel, to cut costs. Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin has said officials may still change their minds and send cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Nikolai Budarin to the station in January. Officials at Kasyanov's office or mission control centers could not be immediately reached for comment. Kasyanov's decree comes after the latest in a series of glitches that have affected the Mir, stoking fear that the station could spin out of control and scatter debris over populated areas in a fiery plunge through the atmosphere. Last week, ground controllers lost radio control with the orbiter, but managed to regain it a day later. Officials blamed the failure on a sudden and unexplained loss of power. Mir has survived several accidents, including a fire and a near-fatal collision with an unmanned cargo ship in 1997. Its latest crews have spent much of their time trying to fix problems, and experts have warned it was risky to leave Mir uninhabited. The station had only one, 73-day mission last year.