After days of negotiation with a US-based entrepreneur, the Russian Space Agency has changed its mind again about the fate of the Mir space station. After several stay orders, officials now say the present crew will not be replaced when they return to Earth in August. Only recently, there were reports that the space station would be saved by Peter Llewellyn, a British-born entrepreneur based at Minnesota. Officials in Moscow reported that he had offered to pay US $100 million for a trip to the station. However, doubts about Llewellyn's ability to provide the money surfaced before the negotiations even ended and the agency abandoned the idea, claiming Llewellyn was too tall to visit Mir ( New Scientist , Vol 162, No 2190).
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