Artsebarsky's opinion is shared by Gennady Malyshev, a professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI). According to Malyshev, "ISS is the highest point of U.S. program of world dominance."

Malyshev believes the Progress M1-5 that is currently docked to Mir must be used to raise the station's orbit to the altitude where Mir could safely stay for another half year. During this period of time, he suggests, the outpost could be equipped with ion engines that could enable it to operate in orbit for a number of years.

Such proposals were rebuffed by other Russian space engineers and officials who are not inclined to conduct any experiments with the extension of Mir's life in orbit.

"Salyut 7's orbit was raised to 286 miles (460 kilometers) altitude where the station was supposed to fly for a period between eight and 20 years," said Nikolai Anfimov, director of Russian Central Scientific-Research Institute for Machine Building (TsNIIMash). "It fell on Earth, however, in four years. If you use Progress M1-5 for the rise of Mir's orbit, it will lift it only by 37 miles (60 kilometers), which is certainly not enough to be considered as a long-term solution for the problem."

According to Anfimov, if Mir is left uncontrolled, it may fall anywhere on Earth between 52 degrees North latitude and 52 degrees South latitude, exposing 85 percent of the world population to the risk of being hurt by any of the station's fragments that survive re-entry. Cities such as Paris, London or Tokyo could be at risk.

Talking about the need to assure Mir's safe deorbiting, Yuri Koptev, Rosaviakosmos General Director, brought up a historical example: in the late 1970s, a Russian nuclear-powered satellite fell on Canadian territory. The Soviet Union had to pay Canada $6.5 million.

"This was a very low fee for the damage [caused by the Russian satellite]," admitted Koptev. "Probability that Mir will hurt somebody or something during uncontrolled deorbiting amounts up to 28 percent, 1.7 percent of which is that it may fall on U.S. territory. This is a very high percentage," said Koptev.

~

According to a veteran-cosmonaut Vladimir Solovyov, a flight director at the Mission Control Center in Korolev, beginning from last summer Mir -- particularly its base module -- has developed some irreversible malfunctions.

"Thermal control system which consists of enormous amount of pipelines that are welded to the body of the station, is losing its leaktightness," said Solvyov. "Such leaktightness could probably be restored, although 80 percent of the station's surface cannot be reached for examination and repair work, since it is covered by instruments and panels. To remove all this equipment from the places and parts which need to be accessed for service, will cost a lot."

Leaks in the thermal control system is not the worst surprise, however. The station began responding to so called non-authorized commands which are the product of glitches in Mir's control system. "Simply speaking, the station's main engine could be suddenly ignited and Mir will fly anywhere it wants," explained Solvyov.

Mir is currently rotating at 0.18 per second around its axis. Such slow rotation enables the station to expose all its solar panels to sun in order to avoid power glitches similar to those which the outpost experienced last December. If for some reason the angular speed of rotation will exceed 1 degree per second, the "emergency crew" won't be able to dock to Mir.

The station daily is losing from 656 feet to a half-mile (200 to 800 meters) altitude, depending on the condition of Earth's atmosphere.

The outpost's currently calculated orbital life (with a 15 percent error margin), will last through March 26, plus or minus seven days. Mir should reach 155 miles (250 kilometers) altitude on March 8, plus or minus 5 days.

That height is a critical altitude for docking of the "emergency crew" with the station. It still may fly to Mir in case of a major malfunction even providing that it will have to rely only on food and water supplies in Soyuz spacecraft. But when the outpost plunges below 155 miles (250 kilometers), no manned spacecraft will be able to dock to the station without posing risk to its crew.

Popular Support for Mir Remains

Although 67 percent of people from 98 nations responding to an online poll by ORT want Mir to stay in orbit, Russian space officials say they cannot justify honoring the sentiment.

"You can't rely on such polls while making a very responsible decision on the station's fate," said Koptev. "People approach this matter mostly in emotional terms. They are sorry to see the outpost gone. As space professionals so are we. But we have to base our decisions on calculations, not emotions and we have to think about safety of people on Earth."

Yuri Semenov, RKK Energia General Designer, made it clear that after Mir celebrates its 15th anniversary in orbit at the end of February, the main reason for the extension of the station's life, which was to see whether ISS could operate in space for 15 years, would be over.

Koptev, praised international cooperation in Mir and ISS programs. Mir's overall cost, according to Koptev, summed up to $4.3 billion (including its development, assembly and orbital operation).

"Overall, more than $1 billion of foreign money was invested in Mir's operation due to international programs from 1994 through 2000, which is 45-47 percent of what was spent on Mir's operation during this period of time," said Koptev.

Russia's participation in ISS program will give a boost to the Russian space industry. "To keep Mir on orbit we had to do only four or five launches a year, which cost us 1.5 billion rubles," said Koptev. "This year we will have to do eight or nine launches to ISS, which will cost us 3 billion rubles. It means that we will have to increase our activity in outer space by 1.5 - 2 times."

According to Koptev, Tito's flight is an unfortunate situation, however. Rosaviakosmos General Director made it clear that Russia had to sell him a "space tourist" seat in Soyuz for purely financial reasons.