The two Russian cosmonauts aboard the Mir space station returned to the main module yesterday after completing repairs in the Spektr compartment damaged in a collision nearly two months ago. Commander Anatoly Solovyov and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov opened the hatch leading back into the main module after repressurising the airlock, Mission Control officials at Korolyov, near Moscow, said.
The repairs, which lasted for almost five hours, had been aimed at restoring power to Mir lost during the collision with a cargo craft on June 25th.
The third crew member, British-born NASA astronaut Michael Foale, was preparing to leave the Soyuz escape capsule where he had been on standby in case the three needed to make a quick escape during the risky repair operation.
"I think this is a super day. We carried out everything we set out to do, and more," Foale told Mission Control in a radio exchange. "Well done everybody."
The repairs started two hours behind schedule after Vinogradov discovered a leak in the joint between a glove and the rest of his spacesuit. But after the initial problems the crew appeared to have a smooth run in completing the repair.
Mr Yuri Grigoryev, the deputy general designer of the space corporation Energiya, said the cosmonauts had fixed nine cables and 11 sockets in Spektr. Mr Yuri Koptev, head of the Russian Space Agency, said the cosmonauts would find out on tomorrow and Monday whether the energy supply system was working after the Spektr operation.
"They have accomplished their task. In two or three days we'll make tests to see if the power system has been restored," he told a news conference at Mission Control. The reconnected cables should restore overall power on Mir to 90 per cent of what it was before the accident, up from 60 per cent before the repair, space officials said.
Back in the main module, Vinogradov and Solovyov were expected to remove their bulky spacesuits and begin a series of tests to find out whether their work to attach power cables leading to the solar panels in Spektr was successful.
The restored power supply will enable the ageing station again to earn Russia's cash-strapped space industry hundreds of millions of dollars from the US and European space agencies, who use it to gain valuable experience.
President Yeltsin in a radio message offered strong support to the beleaguered Mir crew, who earlier this week had to deal with a sudden breakdown in the station's main computer.