Russia's Mir space station realigned - control centre

Russia's flight control centre told the Interfax news agency on Friday that the Mir space station had been successfully realigned - by firing some engines of the attached Soyuz spacecraft.

An official at the flight control centre said that the small orientation engines of the Soyuz TV-26 spacecraft were switched on at 1910 gmt. He said the operation was essential to ensure a stable power supply to the station's life-support systems.

The work to replace the exchange block of Mir's main computer was still continuing, the official added.

Flight control centre said the station's main computer shut down at 0045 gmt on Friday. As usual in such cases, the power supply to all Mir's modules was cut off. This power loss also affected the gyrodynes - the devices for automatic orientation - which resulted in the station losing its alignment with the sun.

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