Progress resupply vehicle fails to rendezvous and dock with the Russian space station Mir and violently impacts it. Poor investment and poor quality are exposed. It’s the beginning of the end for the Russian space station. Vassili Tsibilev is forced to pilot the Progress M-34, using a new remote control (TORU), instead of the Ukrainian KURS. It seems to be arriving too slowly, so he accelerates it. He thinks it’s far away, but it’s already 150 meters away. “It’s already here!!!” Lazutkin shouts. It crashes. The cosmonauts feel their ears clogging: a bad sign! Tsibilev yells at Foale (in Russian) to get into the Soyuz module. Foale dives, but the Russians remain, trying to save Mir. Foale comes back up and helps them, immediately realizing that his Spektr module has been hit. They use a knife to cut all the cables connecting it, amid sparks and short circuits. The hatch doesn’t close immediately because the escaping air is holding it open. Fourteen minutes have passed. In 18 minutes, it would all be over. They use the Soyuz to reorient it toward the Sun, to get some electrical power. They slowly manage to recover it.
