Re: Mir Today, Gone Tomorrow

Gina Miller (nanogirl@halcyon.com)
Wed, 2 Jun 1999 10:42:27 -0700

Money
Gina

>> What would be the problem with boosting Mir to a HIGHER orbit? It took an
>> enormous amount of energy to get it all up there - how much more would it
>> take to preserve it for either future use or as a monument to the history
>> of space exploration?
>>
>> It looks to me like the powers that be would rather enjoy a fireworks
>> disply costing billions than spend a few thousand to preserve. Remember
>> Skylab!
>
>The problem is that its such an ungainly kluge of obsolete crap that a)
you'd
>need to send a manned mission up there to boost it up without turning it
into a
>useless heap of spinning junk, and b) its not worth the expense of (a),
since
>the Russians have already bought their ticket onto the Internation Space
Station
>(admittedly with Russian technology that already is showing signs of wear
and
>obsolescence) they don't need their own anymore.
>
>Additionally the loss of the station might be used by nationalist forces in
>Russia as an example of how far the liberal factions have allowed mother
Russia
>to fall, possibly to motivat the people to do better/more, whatever.
>
>Mike Lorrey
>