Mir Re-entry Successful – Emergency Management Australia

Emergency Management Australia (EMA)
Dickson, Australian Capital Territory

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Brian Flanagan

EMA Media Liaison

Mobile: 0409 489 344

The Mir Space Station splashed down in the Southern Pacific Ocean on
target today at 5:00pm [06:00 UTC].

The splashdown point was at 160W 40S — midway between New Zealand and
Chile and about 5,800 kilometres east of Australia.

Australian Embassy representatives at the Mission Control Centre outside
Moscow reported to Emergency Management Australia (EMA) that the final
braking impulse was initiated at 4:07pm (Canberra time) [05:07 UTC].

This third braking manoeuvre followed two earlier today — at 11:31am
[00:31 UTC] and 1:02pm [02:02 UTC].

Mir maintained stability after each of the three burns and then followed
the predicted track across the Pacific to the splashdown point.

Director General of Emergency Management Australia, David Templeman said
that from the Australian point of view, the management of the Mir exercise
had been a great team effort.

“Many hundreds of Australians in emergency management organisations and
in Commonwealth and State departments and authorities joined EMA to plan
and prepare for the descent of the Mir space station over the last four
months.

“We had a very effective contingency plan — which we have not had to
deploy. However, a critical part of the plan was the collection and
dissemination of information on the Mir de-orbiting and that part of
the plan has worked extremely well.”

Mr Templeman thanked the media for its accurate and positive reporting
of the Mir descent. “The media has played a key role in keeping the
Australian community informed of exactly what was happening to Mir,”
he said.