Mir Crew Unloads Cargo Ship Supplies

The space station Mir’s crew opened the hatch of a newly arrived cargo ship and began unloading perishable groceries and equipment for biological experiments that need to be refrigerated. The cargo ship successfully docked with Mir a day earlier, but officials decided to keep its hatches closed to let Mir’s solar batteries recharge and to allow the crew, which includes NASA astronaut David Wolf, time to rest after the tension of the docking procedure. The cargo ship delivered about 2 1/2 tons of supplies and equipment, including a new backup computer, fuel, drinking water and a device called the Inspector that is designed to fly around Mir and examine its exterior. The Inspector may be used to look for holes punched in one of Mir’s modules when a cargo ship slammed into it during a practice docking in June.