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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

U.S. Astronaut Fends Off Flak Critical Of Mir Expresses Faith In The Russian Space Station During Chat With Reporter

Associated Press

The American astronaut on Mir joked with a Russian reporter Saturday about the news from Earth, laughing off critical reports on the state of affairs on the space station.

In a short conversation with a correspondent from Russian state television, astronaut Michael Foale suggested that at this stage the Russian-American crew would rather skip the news from home.

“The news that we get is always bad,” the astronaut said in Russian, laughing and floating about the station.

Foale and his crew mates - Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov - expressed no concern about the condition of the aging spacecraft, which has suffered a collision, a fire and a series of computer failures in recent months.

The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis will deliver new computer equipment to the Mir this week. The TV reporter asked whether they were worried, noting that computer repairs have a tendency to go awry.

“We have specialists on board,” Foale said emphatically, gesturing to his crew mates and using their nicknames - Pasha and Tolya.

Solovyov broke in. “You have to understand - it’s just a screwdriver repair,” he said. “All you do is exchange one block for another block.”

In addition to computer equipment, Atlantis will bring up astronaut David Wolf, who is to replace Foale.