Mir. Photo: MirCorp

The Progress M1-2 cargo spacecraft docked to the Russian space station Mir Thursday, bringing two tons of fuel, oxygen, experiment hardware and supplies for the orbiting outpost and and its two-man crew.

Operating in a fully automatic mode, Progress M1-2 smoothly moved into position at the rear of the station and docked to Mir's aft port, which is located on the Kvant-1 module.

The resupply spacecraft's arrival at Mir ensures the uninterrupted continuation of activity onboard the station, and it clears the way for the start of commercial operations.

The cargo flight is a truly commercial effort -- the first privately-funded resupply mission to an active orbital station. It was fully backed by MirCorp and its majority shareholder, RSC Energia. No governmental funds were used.

"Mir is now ready to start commercial operations, and we have made a firm decision to keep the station functioning for the long-term," MirCorp President Jeffrey Manber said. "With the Progress M1-2ís docking today, MirCorp has once again met its program milestones on time, and our Russian colleagues have achieved another technical milestone as promised."

Mir has been given a new life as a commercial orbital facility by MirCorp the private company that holds an exclusive lease for the Russian-built and owned station. Russia would have been forced to allow the massive space station to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere this year had MirCorp not provided private financing to maintain it.

Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, a MirCorp director and investor, said MirCorp has successfully completed its second round financing and is scheduling another manned flight for the third quarter of this year. "We soon will be bringing aerospace and entertainment/media companies into MirCorp as strategic partners," he added.

The Russian space station Mir as seen by a U.S. space shuttle. Photo: NASA

Mir has been reactivated by Russian cosmonauts Sergei Zalyotin and Alexander Kalery, who boarded the station April 6. They have brought the facility's life support and power systems up to operational status, and repaired a small air leak originally discovered last year by the station's previous crew.

"We are extremely pleased by the work accomplished by Zalyotin and Kalery," Manber said. "With Mir now ready to start commercial operations, we have made a firm decision to keep the station functioning for the long-term."

Negotiations have begun with several potential customers for commercial activity on Mir, with international interest growing significantly since the cosmonauts' arrival on the station earlier this month.

Manber said MirCorp's short-term revenue will be generated from non-traditional uses of a space station, including media/entertainment packages and corporate sponsorships. MirCorp will place an Internet portal on Mir later this year, which will be linked to the company's Web site.

The second wave of business is expected to come from the more traditional sector, including space-based research and in-orbit scientific experimentation. These users often are governments and institutes, which take more time to organize a space project.