Mir's troubled history

First in-space collision Onboard fire Oxygen generator breakdown Computer crash

Mir is scheduled to come back to Earth in a controlled descent that will send the station hurtling into a remote area of the Pacific Ocean, 1,500-2,000km east of Australia.

Russian officials have been working hard to play down the possibility that this procedure may go wrong.

"There is no risk that the station will fall to Earth," spokeswoman Vera Medvedkova stressed. "It is orbiting 315 kilometres (200 miles) above the Earth, and can remain there until March 15, 2001." After this date, Mir will run out of fuel.

International station

Russian officials said that even if contact was permanently lost with Mir, the station would take three months to crash to Earth because of its current altitude.

But they admit that large chunks of the 140-tonne station could survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, and some of these pieces could weigh up to 700kg (1,540lbs).

Moscow has a two-man team on standby, ready to go up to Mir if it is deemed necessary to carry out an early inspection. This is the same crew that will fly on the planned February mission to prepare the craft for ditching.

The decision to scrap Mir was taken because Moscow wants to concentrate its resources on the new International Space Station (ISS). This 16-nation project has been subjected to repeated delays because of funding problems with Russian modules. Mir's last crew returned to earth in July.