CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- What may turn out to be the final mission to carry supplies to the aging Russian space station Mir successfully lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Monday evening, according to program officials in Moscow.
The Soyuz rocket lifted off at 5:27 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (21:27 GMT) and at the top was a pilotless Progress vehicle, which safely separated from the booster's second stage about nine minutes after launch.
Loaded with 5,109 pounds (2,318 kilograms) of fuel and 1,172 pounds (532 kilograms) of equipment -- which includes such things as food, clothes, office supplies, videotape and personal items -- intended for a future space station crew, the Progress is now on a four-day chase to rendezvous and dock with Mir.
Normally it takes about two days for Progress to reach Mir, but Russian flight controllers altered their plans at the last minute -- delaying the launch 24 hours -- and instead found a way for the spacecraft to make the trip in four days by using less fuel.
As a result, Progress is scheduled to dock with the orbiting outpost at 6:50 p.m. EDT Friday (22:50 GMT).
The extra fuel, officials say, will be used to help raise the altitude of Mir's orbit and prolong the life of a station that has been in space for nearly 15 years.That's good news for MirCorp, a Holland-based firm that has the exclusive rights to lease Mir for commercial purposes.
The company, which recently announced its intention to sell stock, has plans to launch U.S. businessman Dennis Tito as a "Citizen Explorer" in 2001 and the winner of an NBC series from "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett called "Destination Mir" in 2002.
However, the Russian Space Agency and other government aerospace enterprises are under pressure to safely bring Mir out of orbit to crash into the ocean so that scarce money and supplies can be devoted to meeting Russia's commitment to the International Space Station.
If the decision to dump Mir is executed, at least one more Progress-type vehicle would be launched to bring fuel to the station to power a controlled dive into Earth's atmosphere.
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