Two Russian space agencies have agreed on March 6 as the official day for the deorbiting of the Mir space station -- its date with death.

According to the plan made by the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviacosmos) and RKK Energia (Mir's operator), a Progress M1-5 cargo ship with increased fuel capacity will be launched to Mir on January 18, at 1:56 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (06:56 GMT; 9:56 a.m. Moscow time). The next day, a Progress M-43 cargo ship already at the station will be undocked from the outpost for a deorbit set for January 23.

Meanwhile, the Progress M1-5 will take four days to complete its journey to Mir -- twice as long as a conventional cargo flight to the outpost. The longer trip is designed to conserve the cargo ship's fuel for the robotic deorbiting procedure, which will require a large amount of propellant.

A four-day "chase" of Mir by a cargo ship was tested during a Progress M-43 flight to Mir in October 2000.

Instead of using its rather fuel-thirsty main engine, the Progress M1-5 will rely on its smaller engines for approach and orientation. The ship is set to dock to Mirs Kvant module on January 22, at 3:00 a.m. EST (08:00 GMT; 11:00 a.m. Moscow time). If there are any problems docking, Russia will send up an emergency crew of cosmonauts to complete the procedure.

Mir's gyrodines, used to control the station's attitude, will be turned off on Feb. 10.

On March 4 and 5, the Progress will fire three pulses designed to brake the station's orbital velocity. The first two pulses will decrease Mirs speed by 23 feet (7 meters) per second each, while the third one will decrease the stations speed by 46 feet (14 meters) per second.

On March 6, the Progress will generate the final "killing pulse" which should decrease Mirs speed by 56.8 feet (17.3 meters) per second, slowing it enough to drop out of orbit and plunge into the Pacific Ocean later that day.

The deliberate ditching of the Russian outpost will produce a sizeable shower of hardware that will reach Earth's surface.

Over the years, Mir has become a fixture in orbit. The central core of the Russian station was hurled into space on February 20, 1986.

But now, just a little more than 15 years later, it will be lights out for the complex of large docked modules, sets of solar panels, antennas and various pieces of attached equipment.