Mir cosmonauts return to Earth

MOSCOW - Two Russian cosmonauts returned safely to Earth on Friday after more than two months on the Mir space station and said that they were feeling fine.

The capsule carrying Sergei Zalyotin and Alexander Kaleri landed on the steppes of the former-Soviet republic of Kazakstan near the town of Arkalyk after a 3.5-hour descent, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said. The crew were in radio contact with ground controllers during the descent and there were no problems, he said.

Doctors were to examine the two cosmonauts, who were scheduled to fly later Friday to Space City outside Moscow.

The duo blasted off on April 4 on a mission to resuscitate the 14-year old station that had been flying unmanned for eight months. After their departure, Mir was left unmanned until the fall when its foreign investors hope to raise funds for sending up another crew.

The Russian government had planned to dump Mir this spring because of funding problems but extended its time aloft after the Netherlands-based MirCorp signed a lease agreement on the station and provided funds to send up Zalyotin and Kaleri.

RKK Energia company, which built and runs Mir, has a 60-percent stake in MirCorp and the remainder belongs to private investors. MirCorp has promised to keep Mir aloft at least through the end of the year.

Russian Aerospace Agency chief Yuri Koptev said that the funds previously provided by MirCorp would be enough to keep the station in orbit until November 1, and added that Mir would be discarded if investors don't come up with more funds.

''If there is no money, Mir will not fly,'' Koptev said Thursday, according to the Interfax news agency.

The U.S. space agency NASA has been frustrated by Moscow's decision to extend Mir's life, saying it diverts scarce Russian resources from the International Space Station project. The new station is far behind schedule because of Russia's failure to deliver a key component, the Zvezda service module, currently set to be launched on July 12.

But Russian officials are reluctant to dump Mir, the last symbol of the once-proud Soviet space program. They say the station, which has seen a string of accidents and breakdowns including a fire and a near-fatal collision with a cargo ship, would remain safe to fly for another few years.

During their stint on Mir, Zalyotin and Kaleri fixed a small air leak and did other essential repair and maintenance. They spent most of their time Thursday preparing the station's life support and other crucial systems for unmanned flight.