ASTRONAUTS aboard Russia's Mir space station were in no immediate danger after a collision with a cargo craft during a manual docking exercise yesterday, mission control said. One US and two Russian astronauts are on board.
A spokeswoman for the mission control centre near Moscow said the unmanned Progress cargo craft collided at 10.20 a.m. (Irish time) with the Spektr scientific module attached to the main section of Mir, causing a partial loss of air pressure.
Mir is manned by US astronaut Dr Michael Foale, who reached the station on the space shuttle Atlantis in May and was to stay until September, and by Russians, Mr Vasily Tsibliyev and Mr Alexander Lazutkin.
Dr Foale was born in Cambridge, England. Now an American citizen, he was dubbed Mr Fixit when he left Cape Canaveral because of his special role as handyman to the ailing Mir.
The crew can evacuate their damaged orbital outpost at any time and a rescue by the US space shuttle would not be needed, NASA officials said. The station is equipped with a three man Russian Soyuz spacecraft which could leave the station quickly and return to Earth within a day.
"There is no need for the shuttle as the Soyuz can be used if necessary," NASA spokesman Mr Joel Wells said. NASA officials said evacuation was not planned.
In Russia, Mission Control Director, Mr Vladimir Lobachyov, speaking after liaising with the Mir crew, told reporters that the collision was "the most serious accident in recent times". The crew said they were facing power problems following the collision.
The shuttle Atlantis is not scheduled to visit Mir until September and the shuttle Columbia, which is being prepared for launch next Tuesday, is not equipped for a Mir docking.
"Atlantis is the only shuttle configured for docking with Mir," said Mr Wells, but there were no plans to advance its launch date.
A spokesman for NASA said earlier the crew had been able to seal off the damaged compartment after the collision. "The crew said the air pressure on the station was normal and there is no immediate danger," the Russian spokeswoman said by telephone.
She said the main part of the station - in orbit for more than a decade - was not affected by the collision but that a solar battery on the Spektr may have been damaged. The crew was in the main section of Mir during the collision, she added.
It was not clear what effect the collision would have on the mission.
The ageing Mir was launched in 1986 and It is due to be replaced by an international station in the next few years. If Mir has suffered a series of malfunctions in recent months. In February a fire broke out, followed by a leak of coolant. Malfunctions during automatic dockings are a recurrent problem and yesterday's operation was part of a training programme to help the crew cope with them.
US astronaut Jerry Linenger and his Russian crewmates had to prepare to abandon ship twice during his four month stay on Mir which ended last month.