A Simple Truth About
THE MIR SPACE STATION
If you believe the Russians, I've got some swampland in Florida for you

Well, Mir is out of orbit. And all I can say is, "Sweet Relief!" That radiation-spewing satellite has been wreaking havoc on North American health for fifteen years and finally we might be able to get back to the business of living.

Shortly after Mir was put into orbit around Earth in November of 1986, a leak in its plasma drives developed near the docking clamps that hold the Soyuz spacecraft in place. When the first crew departed back to Earth, the Soyuz tore one of the clamps from the main Mir Core Module just behind where the future Priroda Module would be connected. This docking clamp was redundant so wasn't missed for a few months until March of 1987.



The aft portion of the Core Module contained the toilet and shower for the crew of Mir. It was the view from this toilet that allowed Commander Dimitri Leonov to notice that the docking clamp was missing and plasma (basically alpha particles) was leaking from the holes where the bolts had been. In typical Russian style, he never reported his discovery until sometime in early 1994. Leonov, on his death bed (he was dying from radiation poisoning), told a co-worker what he had seen that day in March of 1987.

Once Mission Control in Moscow found out about the breach of the hull of the Core Module, they were quick to act. They quickly contacted US Mission Control who happened to have SS Atlantis docked to Mir at that time. The crew of the Atlantis had the repair made within a day.



At least that's the story the Russians tell. The story told by three members of different crews on Mir between 1987 and 1994 say that the plasma ejection was no accident. The plasma was not constantly leaking. It was released every time Mir was in orbit over North America. It was also released every time that Mir orbited over the North and South Poles. It was also released on the early morning of January 28, 1987 directly in the path of the doomed Space Shuttle Challenger. This was no coincidence. The Cold War was quickly coming to an end, the Berlin Wall was close to collapsing and Mother Russia wasn't going down with a whimper.

Russians. Trust them? Not as far as I can throw them.

I've got a beef. I haven't received any feedback about this column for months now. At first, everybody's sending things to me - it was a lot of fun. But now it's like nobody's out there. So, I'm going to try something new to get your attention. Starting next week I'm going to have the MP3 files available for all the current top 40 albums. The catch is it'll cost you $1 US to download any album. I'm going to set up a secure server and hopefully I'll be able to make enough money to at least pay for the albums.

As always, send me your suggestions for future columns on crang.com. Next time: The Real Reasons for the Mir Destruction.

© March 24, 2001