Free Orbital Maneuvers by R Davison

tasks.  Struggling to free themselves just caused more objects to be knocked loose and float about the cabin.  This was all complicated by the fact that the cosmonauts were working in their bulky space suits because the main crew compartment had been penetrated, and its atmosphere vented into the coldness of space.
    MIR passed through the edge of the debris field as it was forming, and the bulk of the material consisted of particles the size of grains of sand or smaller.  Its next orbit would tell a different story, as the larger and heavier pieces were now in orbit and any damage they caused would be catastrophic.  MIR, in all its glory, would become nothing more than additional pieces of rubble that would orbit the Earth for the next few years.
    The batteries were quickly running out as the cosmonauts made their way back into the Soyuz capsule.  They did not have much time to execute their burn before the computers shut down leaving MIR’s automatic guidance system nonfunctional.  It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to guide the station manually from the capsule. 
    Back in the capsule again, this time with their treasures safely stowed, the cosmonauts closed and secured the hatch.  MIR’s commander engaged the thrusters to back Soyuz away from the station, but nothing happened.  He repeated the procedure but with the same results. 
    “The docking mechanism must be jammed!” Commander Alexander Orlov shouted as he tried the thrusters a third time.  The station held onto the little capsule.  Captain Nicholas Zuyev reached up and tried the manual release for the mechanism but to no avail; the station would not let go.
    Contemplating their situation briefly, Alexander realized that they did not have the time to troubleshoot this problem now.  Turning to Nicholas, he said, “Well, if we can not go backward, then we must go forward!” He had no time to calculate how long the burn should be but knew that there was no going back, and they had no other alternatives, so a maximum duration burn it would be. 
    He fired the thrusters to change the attitude of the station, the station’s inclination to the horizon, pointing it above the thin blue line of the atmosphere.  Before Nicholas could respond, the Commander fired the capsule’s main engine.  The sudden jolt from the engine firing caused one of MIR’s damaged solar panels to snap off and smash into the next panel in line, shattering both panels.  The cosmonauts flinched as a shower of bright, shiny silver and metallic blue shards of glass, silicon and aluminum floated past their windows, breaking into even smaller pieces as they hit the capsule’s fuselage.  Fortunately the pieces were not big enough, or moving fast enough to cause any real damage, and the crew returned their attention to keeping the entire structure on course.
    MIR continued to gain speed and with it, altitude, but not enough of either because it had climbed only fifteen miles and its fuel reserves were almost depleted.
    “We are not going to make it at this rate,” Nicholas said pointing to the fuel status indicator.  “If we could only jettison the station, or even a piece of it, we wouldn’t have as much mass to move.”
    “The loss of the solar panels was in our favor.  It is too bad we did not lose more,” Alexander said as he threw the cutoff switch to the main engine.
    “What are you doing?  We still have fuel left!”
    “I want to try to separate Soyuz from MIR again while we still have fuel left,” Alexander said.  “We will not get high enough carrying the station along with us, and there is no use to move it any further if we do not have to.”
    “You think that the docking mechanism may be working after the stress of the engine firing?” Nicholas asked.
    “Exactly!  Wish us luck!”
    Alexander pulled the thruster control stick back slightly to fire a short burst on the retro-thrusters.  The capsule lurched as it pulled against the massive