Anyone else worried about this ?

news from the BBC in the UK about the Mir space station

Russia is all set to scuttle the Mir space station.
Mir destruction timetable
(approximate times in GMT)  
0030 - First impulse from Progress engines
0200 - Second impulse from Progress engines
0500 - Third impulse from Progress engines
0630 - Splashdown in Pacific Ocean
The 15-year-old orbital platform is due to plunge into the Earth\'s atmosphere on Friday, with fiery fragments expected to hit the southern Pacific Ocean shortly after 0600 GMT.

Ground controllers say all of Mir\'s systems are working and the ageing station\'s rotation has been halted in preparation for the catastrophic descent. The platform has even been manoeuvred to allow its solar panels to pick up maximum energy from the Sun.

"The station is under control," Moscow mission control chief Vladimir Solovyov said. "We have begun the irreversible operation."

\'Burial ship\'

Mir will be pushed into destruction by the Progress supply ship docked to it.



There are many Russians who would like to see a replacement being built
 
The "burial ship" will fire its engines twice on Friday for about 20 minutes. The first burn will take place at about 0030 GMT; the second will occur at about 0200 GMT. These will slow the station and change its orbit from circular to elliptical.

Then, at around 0500 GMT, the Progress engines will fire one last time to send the station hurtling into the ocean somewhere between New Zealand and Chile.

The splashdown footprint centres roughly around 44 degrees south latitude and 150 degrees west longitude.

Endangered vessels

Most of Mir should burn up in the atmosphere but up to 25 tonnes of debris - some fragments will be as large as a car - are expected to rain down on the Pacific for several minutes.



The antennae and the solar panels will be the first parts of Mir to be destroyed
 
Five international flights due to pass over the splashdown area at the critical time have been delayed.

But more than 20 fishing boats are known to be in the danger zone. A small number of merchant ships are also travelling through the area.

All the vessels have been warned they are risking their safety and have been advised by the New Zealand authorities to move out of the way.

Mir replacement

As Russia prepared to say goodbye to its space station, the country\'s Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov hinted that a Mir-2 could yet be built.

However, he conceded that funds were not currently available to make the project happen. "It is impossible for the next 15 years," Klebanov said.

But Russia\'s work "on the very serious programmes related to the International Space Station (ISS)" would make it possible to build such a station in the future, Klebanov added.

This would certainly please the many politicians in Moscow who campaigned against the destruction of Mir. Earlier this week, the speaker of Russia\'s lower house of parliament released a letter sent to President Vladimir Putin urging him to press ahead with a replacement platform.

Gennady Seleznyov told Putin that money received from the Americans for work on the ISS should be directed at a Mir-2 project.

Haha. You Aussies are screwed

Remember the Mars Pathfinder? They forgot to convert (metric). Lets hope those Ruskies get it right:)

Originally posted by CygnusXI
Haha. You Aussies are screwed

Remember the Mars Pathfinder? They forgot to convert (metric). Lets hope those Ruskies get it right:)

If thats the case then there is nothing stopping them from screwwing it up so bad that it lands in SCOTLAND :eek:.

they say there is more of a chance of you winning the lottery every week for 1 year , than it is to land in Germany

The US gave them money and time to build stuff for the ISS station and they are already screwing that up.. Russia needs to get their sh!t together and start doing thier work on the ISS.....  

Why work on an individual project when we have such a great thing going for the ISS...??  what the..  

And austrailia your screwed.. Watch out for Nuclear Fall out!!!

Don´t worry guys, the station will fall into Pacific Ocean sure... or not...

[nO-One]

Well if the station hits that Taco Bell target every American will get a free taco.
Damn I would feel sorry for the bright guy at Taco Bell who thought of that if that station actually hit the target.

Sorry to let you down, Goha, but the possibilities of the core of Mir to hit the taco-bell "blanket" are REALLY small...

what could be the odds

And I won\'t get any profit of it, anyway. Still, Taco Bell HAS to reserve itself Hundreds of Millions Tacos, if it actually does hit the "blanket"! After all, there is that small possibility!

Wonder how they do it, and who funds the project? The government? Well, then, it ain\'t free for you. You\'ve paid the price in taxes

[nO-One]

Well the name is nO-One not Goha
And I wasn\'t being serious,but can you imagine what they would do to the guy who thought off this if the thing would hit the target.