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MOSCOW -- Mir's crew members inspected their space suits yesterday for a desperately important repair mission into an airless compartment -- while their bosses on the ground insisted they were not putting lives in danger by skimping on spare parts.
A computer breakdown this week that shut down most systems aboard the banged-up space Mir was caused by an aging part that Russia had chosen not to spend the money to replace, Deputy Mission Control chief Viktor Blagov acknowledged.
But Blagov insisted that Mission Control was not saving money at the expense of the safety of the Russian-American crew.
"Of course, we're not running everything down until it drops," he told The Associated Press. "It's not like Mir's falling apart."
Ground controllers said that by yesterday afternoon the station largely had recovered from the computer failure, having regained its alignment with the sun, recharged its solar batteries and switched on its main oxygen generator.
In fact, space officials said there was little for the two Russians and one American aboard to do except get some rest before Friday, when cosmonauts are to make the long-awaited "internal spacewalk" into the dark, depressurized Spektr module, ruptured by a collision with a cargo ship in June.
Russia's space program has been dodging criticism since February, when Mir started a run of major malfunctions: a dangerous fire, frequent breakdowns in its oxygen and cooling systems, and the nearly catastrophic cargo ship crash.
Officials at Mission Control have acknowledged that Russia's struggling economy and strained federal budget are taking a toll on the station, which already is operating six years past its expected five-year lifetime.
One effect is that some components -- except in life-support systems -- are not replaced until they break down, Blagov said.
An "information exchange module" failed Monday during a cargo ship docking, knocking out the station's computer. The device, similar to a modem, was past its expiration date, Blagov admitted.
"On-board equipment often serves three to four times longer than its lifetime," he explained. "By keeping it working we save the crew's precious time and, of course, money."
"This computer part simply failed at the worst possible moment, otherwise nobody would have heard about it," he added.
Blagov took issue with suggestions that miserly funding and chronic shortages had pushed the Russian space program -- and its harried leadership -- to the edge.
"It's a deliberate and well-justified policy," Blagov insisted with indignation. "We keep it working after the expiration date on condition we have a replacement at hand."
With the station's computer and other systems restored, focus shifted Wednesday to the Spektr repairs.
Crew members inspected their space suits, and laid out plans for Friday with Russian Mission Control.
Although Mir commander Anatoly Solovyov and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov will remain inside the Mir throughout the space walk, which starts at about 11 a.m. (5 a.m. EDT), space officials said it's just as complex and dangerous as a walk in open space.
The Spektr is airless and powerless, so the crew must wear space suits and carry their own equipment, including a powerful flashlight.
Once inside, the cosmonauts will try to reconnect power cables that were disconnected from the Spektr's solar panels when the module was sealed off after the collision.
One cosmonaut will venture in only far enough to reattach the cables, and the other will wait in the connecting passage.
One factor that makes this mission potentially more dangerous than others is that crew members don't know what hazards they may encounter -- such as broken equipment or shattered glass, which could rip open their spacesuits.
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