[FPSPACE] Contact with Mir space station restored- official

[JamesOberg@aol.com]

Contact with Mir space station restored- official
08:30EDT (1230GMT) 12-26-00
  
KOROLYOV, Russia, Dec 26 (Reuters) - A Russian Mission Control official said 
on Tuesday that contact had been restored with the unmanned space station 
Mir. 

"There has been communication and now we are analysing the data," the 
official, who did not give his name, told reporters at Mission Control 
outside Moscow. 

"We will be able to tell you in the next one hour and 20 minutes what was the 
problem," he said. 

Mission Control said earlier on Tuesday that it had lost contact with Mir on 
Monday and that several attempts to restore the link had failed. Mir is only 
accessible for certain periods as the 130-tonne station orbits the earth. 

Russia has decided to abandon the ageing Mir and ditch it in the Pacific 
Ocean in late February.