TRYING TO RIGHT THE SHIP

By Jeffrey Kluger

Last Wednesday the two Russians and one American aboard the Mir space station were playing a video game with the highest possible stakes. Outside, an unmanned Progress cargo ship hung in space, pointing its television camera toward Mir. Inside, Commander Vasily Tsibliyev watched a monitor as he operated a pair of joysticks, coaxing the robot ship in for a docking. But inexplicably, Progress stopped responding to Tsibliyev's commands and rammed the station. The collision damaged Mir's solar panels and punctured its hull, threatening not only the lives of the crew but perhaps the future of U.S.-Russian collaboration in space as well.

In the past several months, the creaking Mir, built to last just five years but now in its 11th, has been beset by problems, including a loss of oxygen, a breakdown in its cooling system and even an onboard fire. But last week's accident was clearly the worst yet.

The 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 and Mir itself to list and drift. "It's as critical as it can get," said astronaut Jerry Linenger, who recently completed a four-month hitch on Mir.

The safety of Mir has long been a concern in the U.S. (TIME, May 12). Congress, which controls NASA's funding--including the $472 million the agency pays Russia for flights to Mir and for other joint projects--was already questioning whether it was wise to fly such a derelict ship. With two more Americans still set to ride aboard Mir before this cycle of joint flights ends, in May 1998, many on Capitol Hill want to pull the plug on the missions. "The incident," says Indiana Representative Tim Roemer, "should prompt further debate over how much we are willing to sacrifice for manned space science." NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin doesn't agree, and for now is standing by the Russians. "Things go wrong in space all the time," he told TIME. "Even with a new space station we're going to have problems."

In 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 to keep the station stable.

Such an evacuation would almost certainly mean the end of Mir. Its aging hardware requires round-the-clock tending, even in the best of times. For a ship that recently completed its 65,000th orbit of Earth, pulling the plug may ultimately be the only sensible--and safe--answer.

--By Jeffrey Kluger. Reported by Jerry Hannifin/Cape Canaveral and Dick Thompson/Washington

With reporting by Jerry Hannifin/Cape Canaveral and Dick Thompson/Washington