Mir’s Troubles May Help Russian Space Program Stay Aloft

Sometime soon - in six months, a year, three years - the last cosmonaut will check out of Mir and the venerable space station will be put out to orbital pasture, doomed to burn up in re-entry or fall to Earth in pieces.

But Russia’s manned space program, despite its money troubles, won’t crash and burn with it.

The Mir’s months-long travails actually have brightened Russia’s future in space by provoking the government to make new financial commitments to the space program.

The Kremlin has made clear it doesn’t intend to give up the last proud symbol of Russian supremacy - economic crisis or not.

“Clearly they’ve stretched themselves to the limit at this point,” said Marcia Smith, space policy specialist for the Congressional Research Service in Washington.

“(But) they can keep it going as long as they want to,” she said of Russia’s manned program. “It is, after all, simply a matter of government spending priorities.”