Space-station docking called off by Soviets

A Soviet space module came within 200 yards of the manned orbiting station Mir yesterday when docking maneuvers were halted because of a malfunction, the Soviet Tass news agency said. Tass said Kvant, the space-research module launched last Tuesday, had been approaching Mir normally when operations were stopped because of problems with the module's directional systems.

Soviet experts were analyzing data from Kvant to determine whether docking maneuvers could be resumed, the news agency said.

Cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Alexander Laveikin have been living since Feb. 8 aboard Mir, one of a new generation of Soviet spacecraft that is to become the heart of a permanently manned orbiting station.

The mission is the second trip to Mir. Cosmonauts Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov traveled to the craft last year and made the first transfer of spacemen from one station to another during a voyage lasting from March 13 to July 16.