The central computer on board Mir was working again Monday night after a three-day breakdown that threatened to postpone the Russian space station’s last rendezvous with a U.S. shuttle. The Mir crew now hopes to reactivate the station’s automatic steering system, said Valery Lyndin, a spokesman for Russian Mission Control. The shuttle can only dock with Mir when the steering system keeps it properly aligned. The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to lift off Tuesday and dock with the station Friday to pick up astronaut Andrew Thomas, the seventh and last American to live on the Russian outpost. Lyndin said space officials have not yet determined why Mir’s computer broke down Saturday. After ground controllers finished loading the software into the computer Monday, the crew was able to get the computer working again.
