[amsat-bb] Re: Mir Why accident prone ?

[VK5ZAI <hutch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 > Russia Cargo Craft Ready for Final Mir Mission
 >
 > MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Progress cargo vessel will blast off for the doomed Mir
 > space station (news - web sites) next week to nudge the Soviet-era craft out
 > of orbit and into a crash-landing in the Pacific Ocean, Russian space
 > officials said on Friday.
 >
 > ``The date of the cargo vessel's launch has been set for January 24,'' a
 > spokesman for Russian flight control told Reuters.
 >
 > The launch, delayed by almost a week, is part of final preparations to end
 > Mir's 15-year odyssey around Earth.
 >
 > The craft will blast off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan almost a
 > week later than planned, after problems with the accident-prone space
 > station's navigation system forced the operation to be postponed on
 > Thursday.

Why is it that the media almost always refer to Mir as accident-prone ?  It has
been in space for 15 years now and has been manned most of that time. In the 15
years they have had a few problems however I haven't heard of any loss of life
or physical accidents to any crew. I wonder how many of us could drive a car 24
hours a day for 15 years and not have an accident. I think Russia deserves full
credit for the reliability of Mir.  It would be nice if the media could give
credit where it is deserved at times.
     -
                     73 de Tony....VK5ZAI.
  J.A.(Tony) Hutchison.
  QTH. PARINGA. South Australia
  Grid.QF05jt: AMSAT Aust..#799
  Member of  AMSAT-NA....#33418
  Aust ARISS Telebridge Station

  MY WEB SITE: http://www.electric-web.org

  Riverland Radio Clubs web site: http://www.rrc.org.au




----
Via the amsat-bb mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe amsat-bb" to Majordomo@amsat.org