Aerial Expedition to Film and Broadcast Russian Space Station’s De-orbit Prepares for Mission

Unique Video Footage of Station’s Re-Entry Is Anticipated As the date of Space Station Mir’s historic re-entry into Earth’s
atmosphere approaches, the international consortium planning an aerial
expedition to film the entire event has shifted into high-gear.

A collection of renowned scientists, retired cosmonauts and space
enthusiasts are working together with the Russian space program to
ensure video coverage of the space station’s fiery descent. March’s
unpredictable weather patterns have forced repeated changes in both
the date and exact location of Mir’s re-entry, making final
preparations infinitely more complicated, but organizers now expect to
cover the event with a sortie of planes leaving from Fiji.

“We are working very closely with the Russian space program to
ensure that our expedition is positioned in the optimum place to view
and record this entire event,” assured Yuri Karash, ex-aerospace
advisor to the Governor of Moscow and expedition member.

The unique challenges of recording an event of this sort in a
sparsely inhabited portion of the South Pacific have required
considerable coordination. Planes have been leased, camera crews
recruited, reservations made, only to see the date and details change
over and over again. But all that is par for the course.

“These types of changes are inevitable,” explained Bob Citron,
expedition organizer and aeronautical engineer. “You have to remember,
we’re dealing with an object hurtling above the Earth at 18,000 miles
per hour. This re-entry is vulnerable to so many variables, and
Russian officials are doing their best to ensure that the station’s
de-orbit trajectory takes it nowhere near human inhabitants.”

For the expedition team, this operational environment has required
extraordinary flexibility. Mir’s March 22nd re-entry date is by no
means definite, and trip coordinators have been holding planes, crews
and equipment on stand-by twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Of course, the expedition’s Russian members are undoubtedly the
critical component in this entire equation. Their direct
communications with Russia’s space program will help the expedition
plot its flight course in direct relation to that of the Mir, while
maintaining a safe distance from the station itself.

“We have every intention of getting our shot, and the Russian
members of this expedition are helping to make that happen,” said Bob
Tur, the Emmy Award-winning camera man heading up the expedition’s
film crew.

The largest man-made object ever to fall from orbit, the 140-ton
Mir Space Station will tear through Earth’s atmosphere, bursting into
flames as it descends before crashing into a sparsely inhabited region
of the South Pacific.

Expedition footage of Mir’s re-entry will be posted to
www.mirreentry.com for broadcast. Some 5-10 million unique visits to
the site are expected in the 72 hours following Mir’s re-entry, making
this event one of, if not the largest Internet broadcast yet.

About the Mir Re-Entry Observation Expedition

Organized by a respected group of scientists and entrepreneurs,
the Mir Re-Entry Observation Expedition will witness and document the
re-entry of the Mir Space Station, the largest man-made object ever to
fall from orbit around the Earth. Expedition organizers will obtain
unique video footage of the station’s re-entry for broadcast over the
Internet and on television around the world, while also offering a
select group of private citizens the opportunity to witness this
spectacular event with their own eyes. For further information
concerning the expedition or its footage, please contact Herring Media
Group at 415/332-7133 or mirreentry@hmgworld.com.