Word: spektr
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Even as colleagues on the ground rehearsed procedures that cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliyev and Alexander Lazutkin must undertake to fix their troubled station, Russian commentators candidly admitted that the damaged part of the station could be a Pandora's box. Rammed by another Progress on June 25, Mir's Spektr science module suffered a foot-long tear in one of its sail-like solar panels and an inch-wide breach in its hull, depressurizing the interior. To keep the rest of Mir's precious atmosphere from spilling as well, the crew hurriedly sealed off Spektr, site of Foale's racks...
...four-hour "internal" space walk in the frigid, airless and possibly contaminated lab. As one stands by, the other will enter with a flashlight to look for the right wires, moving gingerly in the tight quarters to avoid ripping his bulky space suit. Then they will reseal Spektr with a new hatch fitted with cable ports on either side to complete the electrical circuits to Mir. Foale, meanwhile, will be waiting in a Soyuz capsule, ready for the team's escape if an emergency occurs...
...hull rupture sent air spewing out of the ship's 43-ft. Spektr module, which contains science experiments and the American's sleeping quarters, forcing the crew to seal off that portion of the station. Damage to the solar panels cost Mir half its power, leading to a shipwide brownout, and the station itself was thrown into a sickening spin. At week's end Tsibliyev, fellow cosmonaut Alexander Lazutkin and astronaut Mike Foale were reduced to pitching camp in the dimly lighted areas of the station that still work, as failing systems caused heat and humidity to soar...
...Russia space officials still believe they can save the station they've got. In July they will launch another Progress ship, this one with electrical cables and repair equipment, and they are devising a plan for the cosmonauts to access the stricken Spektr module in an effort to tap the pod's solar panels and restore power to the rest of the station. Should this fail and Mir's systems collapse completely, the crew could abandon ship in a Soyuz spacecraft docked outside, though they've already had to plunder a bit of the escape pod's precious thruster fuel...
...some good news of their own as a Progress supply ship stocked with repair equipment finally docked with the crippled space station. Cosmonauts needed the supplies for the repair work they'll do during a spacewalk July 17, when they will reconnect power lines with the station's damaged Spektr module. Also delivered today: the world's worst airline food, some oxygen, fuel and a toothbrush for American astronaut Michael Foale...