SPACE : W. Germans Sign for Mir Flight
West Germany and the Soviet Union signed an agreement today to send a German astronaut to the Mir space station in 1992.
The accord with the Soviet Glavkosmos space agency will make West Germany the second nation along with France to go into space with both the Americans and the Soviets.
In 1983 Ulf Merbold flew on the Columbia shuttle from Nov. 28 to Dec. 8, and a second shuttle flight with a West German astronaut is scheduled. France has made one shuttle flight with the Americans, and has twice sent astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien to the Mir space station in flights with the Soviets.
Nikolai Semyenov, a spokesman for Glavkosmos, said the West Germans will pay $9 billion for the eight-day flight, which will take place in the second half of 1992.
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