Needless to say, the specterof the 15-year-old space station's decaying orbit hung heavy over the headsof the designers and officials at the meeting, including Yuri Semenov,president and general designer of RKK Energia, which owns the complex,and Yuri Koptev, general director of Rosaviacosmos.

While a recently launchedProgress cargo vehicle is on course to boost the station to a higher orbitthat will remain viable through February, the fate of Mir beyond that pointremains unclear.

"The idea of the stationsdeorbiting was dominating the meeting," said Gorbunov. "Everybody understoodthat there was no other choice for Mir but to be deorbited. This understandingwas, however, just a recognition of the fact that there will be no moneyto keep Mir in orbit and it should not be considered as a formal decision."

That said, the officialsconsidered another option. Continued operation of the space outpost --which Dutch company MirCorp had planned to lease through 2001 and beyondfor commercial and tourist purposes -- remained on the table, althoughGorbunov was not optimistic about the possibility.

"MirCorp is currently beggingEnergia on its knees not to deorbit the station," he told SPACE.com."They are promising to find money in three weeks, but it will be too lateanyway. Spaceships cannot be manufactured in a couple of days."

Dennis Tito? Who's that?

In particular, Gorbunov downplayedrecent MirCorp claims to have saved the station by financing the recentProgress launch. He stressed the spacecraft was launched at governmentexpense, without MirCorp's help.

DennisTitos training at Star City remains a real enigma. "There were noofficial petitions to Rosaviacosmos regarding the official enrollment ofTito in the cosmonauts training," said Gorbunov. "There is no officialdocument substantiating his training."

"Titos issue doesnot exist for Rosaviacosmos at all," he said. "Only two people willfly to Mir, and this will happen only in the case of emergency. If everythinggoes all right, they will fly to ISS (the International Space Station).This will save the program one Soyuz-type spacecraft and launch vehicle."

While Dennis Tito himselfwas not immediately available for comment,  Mircorp spokesman JeffLenorovitz was stunned by Gubunov's comment.

"We've got pictures!" Lenorovitzsaid. "We had 40-some journalists who attended the press conference inSpace City announcing Tito's training."

In addition, Tito has anofficial medical document that qualifies him as an official cosmonaut,he said.

"This kind of comment onceagain shows the gap between a space agency and a real commerical company,"Lenorovitz said.

The dangling questions

If the outpost is kept aloft,the Russian space establishment still needs firm answers to a host of questions.How much longer will it be allowed to stay up there? How much will it cost?What impact will the unanticipated expense have on the larger Russian spacestrategy?

If RKK Energia does not findthe money to continue piloted operation of Mir -- about $200 million for2001 -- the corporation must deorbit the station at its own expense, accordingto government decree N-76.

This would cost about $21million (600 million rubles) -- if everything goes normally. In the eventof a problem, a crew will have to fly to Mir, considerably increasing theexpense of scuttling the station. In either event, two Progresses willbe required, including the one currently chasing Mir.

Meanwhile, no matter howclosely involved both Rosaviacosmos and RKK Energia are in Mirs operation,they cannot make a formal decision regarding its fate.