New setback for Mir space programme

The Russian space agency in Moscow says it has abandoned a project to photograph damage caused to the space station Mir during its collision in space last June.

A space robot was launched to film the outside of Mir, but after it was deployed, its cameras were found to be facing the wrong way.

The mission was abandoned when scientists said they were unable to adjust the orientation of the cameras.

The Russians had been trying to test the robot as an alternative to space walks as a way of examining the outside of space stations.

Mir was badly damaged when a module collided with the space station during a practise docking.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service