"The system that stabilises Mir in space has switched itself off as a result of problems with the station's batteries which are out of date and malfunctionning," officials at Russia's space centre told AFP.

The latest crisis forced space agency chiefs to postpone the launch of the supply ship Progress, which had been due to blast off from the cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, at 9:56 am Moscow time (0656 GMT) on Wednesday.

Russian space officials said the 140-tonne unmanned space station had lost its orientation overnight Wednesday. The launch of Progress would now take place either on Sunday or Wednesday next week, they said.

But they sought to play down fears that Mir could soon be hurtling out of control, saying the "technical problem" was confined to the batteries, which needed recharging, and the subsequent lack of full power.

"This is not the first time this has happened with Mir. We are in control of the situation," said the space agency, which added that it hoped "to restart the stabilising system" on Friday.

The space agency stressed that radio contact with the Soviet-era station had not been lost.

Three emergency space craft were on standby and ready to intervene to help Progress dock with Mir, officials said.

The supply ship's mission is to nudge Mir into a descent path that would end with the space station splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on March 6, a week later than the February 27-28 date originally set.

However, space officials there was "no need to dispatch one of the emergency crafts to the space station."

The supply vessel had been due to dock with Mir on Monday, but the latest mishap served to underline fears that Russian space agency officials are far from being in complete control of the hazardous ditching operation.

The planned destruction of Mir envisages the Progress craft lowering the space station's orbit to 80 kilometres (50 miles), causing it to enter the dense layers of the atmosphere where most of it will burn up.

Senior Russian experts have warned that there are no assurances the plan would go smoothly, sparking concerns about the risk to human life from stray debris.

Those parts of the station's component modules that do not burn up are expected to fall into the Pacific Ocean around 1,500 to 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) off the coast of Australia.

Last month, Russia lost contact with Mir for almost 24 hours, sparking international alarm at the posible security threat if such a communication breakdown recurred while Mir was hurtling towards Earth.

The decision to bring down Mir follows several glitches in recent years, including a serious fire and a near-fatal collision with a cargo ship in 1997.

Russia has found that its commitment to the new International Space Station (ISS) has stretched its budget to breaking point. Unable to support both space projects, it decided to abandon Mir.

All rights reserved. � 2001 Agence France-Presse. All information displayed on this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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