MOSCOW, Nov 17: The crew of Russia's Mir space station found themselves without a central computer from Friday to late on Sunday after an electrical problem caused the new computer to shut down, Interfax said.

Officials said the crew had dealt with the problem by 1900 hrs GMT on Sunday and all systems were functioning normally except some of the gyrodines which keep Mir's solar panels pointing at the sun.

The problem was caused by a drop in the computer's electricity supply which was blamed on a miscalculation of the accident-prone station's energy demand.When the energy supply dropped too low for normal operations, the computer announced an emergency situation and shut itself down at 1800 hrs GMT Friday. After that, the gyrodines went off as well.

The Mir crew - Mir commander Anatoly Solovyov, engineer Pavel Vinogradov and US astronaut David Wolf - then shut off all main systems on board the station including life support.

On Sunday evening only five of the station's nine gyrodines were in operation. The remaining four are expected to be turned back on Monday.Currently the station's orientation is being maintained with the help of the propulsion system of the Soyuz craft docked with the station and which would be used in the event of an emergency evacuation from Mir.

The shut-down came a day after the testing of a solar battery mounted on the Kvant module.

The Mir's new on-board computer was installed on October 1 after the previous one on the 11-year-old orbital station crashed four times within a month, disrupting the gyrodines and oxygen supply.

The Mir has been dogged by accidents and breakdowns in recent months, but its fortunes seemed to have been improving since Solovyov, one of the world's most experienced astronauts, and Vinogradov came on board August 5.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.