New problem for Mir

Korolyov, Russia (Reuters) - The crippled Mir space station was coping with a new navigational problem yesterday but mission control said the Russian-American crew were safe and practising for a risky and complex repair operation.

Sergei Krikalyov, the deputy mission chief, said there had been an unexplained malfunction in all the station's gyrodines - devices that keep the solar panels lined up to the Sun.

Cosmonauts had to fire the engines to keep Mir lined up to the Sun and avoid losing even more electrical power. The station suffered a similar power loss last week after the collision with an unmanned Progress cargo craft during a docking exercise.

Officials would neither confirm nor deny a newspaper report the nearly fatal collision was caused by a serious oversight by the commander Vasily Tsibliyev.