MIR TO SINK IN OCEAN BY MARCH 22








TOKYO, March 14. /Vyacheslav Bantin, RIA Novosti Correspondent/ -- The Mir space station will sink in the South Pacific between March 20 and 22, Russia told the Japanese government, Kiodo Tsushin news agency reported.


	Russia has also announced that the station's engines will not start until it descends to the orbit of 220 kilometers from the Earth. Now the altitude is about 245 kilometers.


	During the station's last circuit around the Earth, engines will be started three times on the Mir. Then the station will enter the planet's atmosphere.


	To make the Mir disposal operation more open for Japan, Moscow and Tokyo have agreed that Japanese experts will be observing the descent at the Mission Control.


	On March 8, a government coordinating committee was formed in Japan to keep tabs on the station's disposal. The committee comprises officials from the Cabinet secretariat, the defense agency, the Foreign Ministry, the Education Ministry and a number of other ministries. The committee's duty is to analyse the data coming in from the Russian government and other sources and speedily inform the Japanese public of the Mir's descent from orbit.