[FPSPACE] Mir rescue crew

[Igor Lissov]

Hi, everybody!
Happy New Year!

It seems that Mir rescue crew will fly after all. Even without
recent comm blackout, Mir suffers from unstable telemetry
transponder. If the device finally fails, Mir goes uncontrolled.
So the crew onboard becomes a prudent option.
The problem is that we need experienced commander to
dock with possibly unstable station and experienced flight
engineer to cope with current and future failures onboard.
In two ready EO-29 crews (Sharipov-Vinogradov, Musabayev-
Baturin) Sharipov and Baturin aren't experienced in the field.
Hence, there is in training (while not officially approved) a third
crew, Gennady Padalka and Nikolay Budarin. They will train
throughout the New Year vacations and Ortodox Christmas
and inspect Soyuz TM #206 on January 7-8.
On January 11-12, three crews will probably pass exams
and prime crew will be approved. Launch is tentatively set for
January 18.

Igor Lissov