The space station Mir blazed to
earth into the South Pacific today, ending its 15-year space voyage
with spectacular trails across the sky.
There was no report of any land area being hit after it
disintegrated and fell to earth just before 6am GMT.
"The Mir has finished its triumphant flight," a Mission Control
announcer said. Blazing wreckage was seen from Fiji hurtling across
the sky.
David Templeman, executive director of Emergency Management
Australia, said: "Splashdown has occurred in that area where it was
predicted. We don't have any report of any other damage at this
stage."
Russian space officials were sombre at the end of a space era,
but exuberant over what they characterized as a flawless
achievement.
"It has been an exemplary operation, and our experts have not
made a mistake in any single step, not in a millimeter. The world
has become convinced that Russia knows not only how to build
spacecraft but how to control them and how to forecast their flight.
Russia will remain a great space power," said Yuri Koptev, the head
of the Russian Aerospace agency.
The spacecraft's descent began after its eight engines thrusted
according to commands issued by Mir's onboard computer at 00.31 GMT,
when Mir was just below the Equator over the Indian Ocean.
A second impulse successfully took place an hour and a half later
as Mir crossed over East Africa. Both thrusts, known as burns, were
aimed at slowing Mir's speed and bringing it into its final
pre�crash orbit.
The final burst plunged the station into the atmosphere over the
Pacific and into the waters between Australia and Chile, a zone that
centers roughly around 40 degrees south latitude and 160 degrees
west longitude, slightly different than previously indicated. That
put the center of the Mir sinking about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles)
northwest of the planned site.
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