The Progress M43 spacecraft in a test stand during final pre-flight preparations. Photo: RKK Energia

An unmanned cargo freighter blasted off Monday bound for the space station Mir to keep the outpost orbiting at a safe altitude until Russian authorities decided whether to send the 15-year complex in a controlled crash back to Earth.

The Progress M43 vessel was launched atop a Russian Soyuz rocket at 2127 GMT (5:27 p.m. EDT) from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

Paid for by Holland-based MirCorp, the Progress is taking a fuel-conserving trek to Mir that will save 120-150 kg propellant. That fuel could ultimately be used to deorbit the aging station if money is not found soon to continue its life.

The Progress will use small attitude control thrusters instead of its main orbit correction engine for almost the entire rendezvous process with the station. As a result, it will take four days instead of normal two for the spacecraft to reach the station. This type of maneuver was tested, when one of the previous cargo ships departed Mir, however, it has never been tried to approach the station.

The ballistic calculations for the new maneuver conducted over the last week showed that a Monday launch date would be preferable to the originally announced Oct. 15 launch window.

Unless MirCorp, which has now launched three Progress ships and one manned voyage to Mir, comes up with new funding very soon, the cash-strapped Russian government may have no choice but to send Mir on a suicidal plunge into the Pacific Ocean.

MirCorp announced last week it will pursue an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the world's major stock exchanges in hopes of raising $117 million to fund long-term commercial operations aboard the station.

Nonetheless, RKK Energia has been developing plans to deorbit Mir between December 2000 or March 2001. Government approval of the deorbiting plan is still needed, however.

Another view of the Progress M43 spacecraft before its launch. Photo: RKK Energia

Although the technical plan to deorbit Mir was put in place by the Council of Chief Designers several weeks ago, a formal decision by the Russian government is required to terminate the Mir's mission. The government's decision to deorbit Mir might occur as early as this month.

The second Progress, a newer M1-type, will be launched to Mir to perform the final deorbiting burn. The "burial" cargo ship is currently going through the final checks at RKK Energia test facility in Korolev and it is expected to be shipped to Baikonur Cosmodrome in November.

There is still a possibility that the very last Mir crew, including U.S. businesman Dennis Tito, will visit station in January 2001, however senior-level sources in Moscow said that given the financial situation at RKK Energia, the company operating Mir, the chances for this mission are very slim.

Besides the space tourist deal with Tito, MirCorp has also worked a deal to fly the winner of the "Destination Mir" television reality series from NBC and "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett.

"The Dennis Tito and 'Destination Mir' flights have confirmed the revenue potential of the station with non-traditional users of space," Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, a director and major investor in MirCorp, said last week. "We also foresee a major revenue stream from the more traditional sectors -- including space science, remote sensing and manned missions with national or governmental space agencies."

But it surely seems time is running out for Mir.