No Way, Monsieur

By Taran Provost Monday, July 21, 1997
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MOSCOW: France has decided it cannot allow a French astronaut to travel to Mir until the fresh team of cosmonauts launching August 5 can repair the station. The new team will conduct an exterior space walk to pinpoint the location of a hole in Spektr's wall, pierced after a cargo ship collided with it in June, and will work to reattach cables disconnected after the June crash. U.S. astronaut Michael Foale will not participate in either operation, but instead has been instructed to camp inside the Soyuz escape capsule until a space shuttle mission picks him up in September. Having survived emergencies ranging from flash fires and a collision to being set adrift in space with last week's power failure, the two frazzled Russian crew members are looking forward to landing on Earth by August 14.