China May Buy Mir Orbital Station, Spanish Agency Says

China May Buy Mir
by Yan Gamarnik
Moscow - February 28, 2000 - The Chinese government may pay several billion dollars to buy the Mir orbital space station, the Spanish news agency EFE was reported as saying Thursday in a report carried by the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

The report quotes Chinese diplomatic sources as saying that purchasing the Mir space station would enable it to gain time and accumulate means to realize its zeal to become a space power.

The combined news reports suggests that many so called Chinese "experts" believe that urgent repairs of several Mir modules and onboard computers will keep the station working in the orbit for another 15 years.

The Itar-Tass report repeats previous suggestions that China's first spacecraft, launched last autumn, was only a copy of an obsolete Russian spacecraft.

Despite rumours that the Chinese government is studying the possibility of buying the Mir complex, Itar-Tass said that the Chinese embassy in Moscow did not know anything about the intentions of the Chinese leadership to buy the Russian space station.

SPACE TRAVEL
Russia Ready To Shake Down Rich Tourists
London - February 17, 2000 - A new era in space commercialization is said to have begun today with the completion of contracts between the Russian operators of MIR and Amsterdam-based MirCorp to make Mir available for operations that are expected to range from space tourism and in-orbit advertising to industrial production and scientific experimentation.

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