Posted: Wed, Mar 14, 2001, 7:00 PM ET (0000 GMT)
Russian officials said Wednesday they now plan to bring down the Mir space station on March 22, two days later than prior estimates. Rosaviakosmos officials, as quoted in a CNN.com article, said the station will come down over the South Pacific at 1:20 am EST (0620 GMT) March 22, six hours after a series of three deorbiting burns by a Progress spacecraft attached to the station begin. Delaying the deorbiting will allow the station's orbit to decay naturally a little more and conserve propellant: the CNN article claims that the Progress has "just enough" propellant to deorbit the station safely. The station's reentry zone in the South Pacific has also been moved slightly, according to an Interfax article on SPACE.com, because several uninhabited French islands were in the original impact zone. Despite some concerns by those near the impact zone and in the final flight path of Mir, plans for the deorbiting maneuver have been proceeding smoothly, with the station's control system successfully reactivated Tuesday.

Related Links:

•  CNN article about deorbit delay
•  SPACE.com article about deorbit delay
•  Mir reentry information from The Aerospace Corporation