MIR'S ORBIT LOWERS BY 2 KILOMETRES; NOW IT IS 243.6 KM ABOVE EARTH








KOROLEV /MOSCOW REGION/, MARCH 13. /RIA NOVOSTI'S CORRESPONDENT EDUARD PUZYREV/. During the last 24 hours the orbit of the Russian space station Mir has lowered by two kilometres and now constitutes 243.6 kilometres above the earth.


	Specialists from the Mission Control Center report that in the last two days the Mir has been falling down by two kilometres every 24 hours. On Monday the center switched on Mir's central on-board computer and on Tuesday fed in a control programme.


	The space station is drifting as before. This helps save propellant on board, said the mission control center. The fuel will be fired in de-orbiting and then the average altitude will be 220 kilometres above the earth. This is expected to happen on March 18 through 21, 2001.


	"The on-board systems responsible for deorbiting are OK and permanently kept an eye on", said the mission control center. (nov/nog)