The Progress M43 spacecraft in a test stand during final pre-flight preparations. Photo: RKK Energia

A Progress resupply ship successfully docked to the space station Mir on Friday night, setting the stage for a reboost maneuver to raise Mir's orbit from its current one. Mir's orbit has been falling steadily since the last reboost maneuver occurred earlier in the year.

The docking occurred after a four-day trip to Mir since launch. Normally, a two-day transit is performed, but managers wanted to conserve fuel to use at Mir. So, instead of using the Progress' main engine, small maneuvering thrusters were used to fine-tune its approach.

Launch of the Progress M43 craft occurred on Monday, October 16, at 2127 GMT (5:27 p.m. EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch used a Soyuz-U rocket.

The reboost would be conducted to raise the orbit of Mir, which would end up being at dangerously low levels late this year. After having raised the orbit, senior officials in Russia's space industry will have more time to sort out the future of the station.

MirCorp, the company that has leased Mir for commercial use, has been having trouble raising money as of late. The Russian government and Mir-builder RSC Energia have been developing plans for a deorbit of Mir between December of this year and March 2001. All that is lacking is government approval.

Mir's 15th anniversary in orbit will be in February 2001. The launch of the Mir core module took place in 1986.