Travel  |  Business World  |  Women's World  |  Entertainment

Change Your Life!

"Air conditioner thumps, but toilet works great"

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

November 19, 2000 

CAPE CANAVERAL--(AP) - A Russian cosmonaut aboard the international space station had to bring in a cargo ship by remote control Friday night after an automatic system failed.

Yuri Gidzenko used a joystick to guide the Russian Progress ship to a safe linkup with the space station, almost an hour later than planned.

It was the first Progress docking for the three-man station crew, on board for just two weeks.

Everything was going well earlier in the evening as the Progress, loaded with food, boots, brackets, cables, an air conditioner and other supplies, closed in on the space station.

Once the cargo ship was within 300 feet ( 90 meters), however, its automatic docking system would not lock onto the space station, and Gidzenko was forced to take over.

He brought the cargo ship to within 15 feet (4.5 meters) of the space station, then stopped because of glaring sunlight and a camera lens fogged by ice. Some 40 minutes later, he finished the job. Because the space station was out of communication at the time of contact, Mission Control had to wait another 40 minutes before knowing whether the docking had been accomplished.

"I would like to congratulate you for your bravery and heroism and your ability to be patient," a Russian flight controller radioed up. "You guys have used a lot of adrenaline, huh? OK, well, you guys relax a bit. You've earned it."

NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd, the station's first commander, moved into the space station for a four-month stay on Nov. 2, along with Gidzenko and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev.

The three men have just two weeks to unload the cargo ship. Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to lift off Nov. 30 with new solar wings for the station, and the cargo ship must be gone by the time the shuttle arrives.

---

On the Net:

NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov