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RUSSIA鈥檚 efforts to keep the Mir space station aloft are getting desperate.
Last week, officials in Moscow announced that a British-born businessman would
pay $100 million for a week-long ride on Mir. But within a day, it became
unclear whether he had the cash.

For months, Energia, the company based in Korolev, near Moscow, that runs
Mir, has been claiming that a foreign backer would keep the station in orbit
(This Week, 27 February, p 25).
Last week, Energia spokesman Sergei Gromov
announced that the station鈥檚 saviour would be Peter Llewellyn, who had agreed to
bankroll the station in return for a week in orbit.

But Llewellyn promptly came up with a somewhat different story. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no
cost involved in me going,鈥� he said in a BBC radio interview. Russia has to send
up a spacecraft to retrieve the French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigner茅.
鈥淚鈥檓 basically hitching a ride.鈥�

Llewellyn reportedly runs a waste
recycling company called Microlife USA, based in Minnesota. He claims that money
raised by sponsorship of his flight would fund a children鈥檚 hospital in
Moscow.

Given the confusion surrounding Llewellyn鈥檚 plans and finances, it seems
unlikely that he will fly. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have any comment,鈥� Christopher Faranetta,
deputy managing director of Energia鈥檚 American operations, told New
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But some observers suspect that Energia has indeed found a benefactor because
Mir has been recently been boosted into a higher orbit to prevent it from falling back to Earth
(This Week, 1 May, p 5). One source of funding might be
the Chinese government. In 1996, a handful of Chinese underwent astronaut
training at Star City, near Moscow鈥攚ith two training specifically for a
mission to Mir. They have yet to fly.