European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 20, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes thursday april 20,1989 Cost cutting soviets Tak Irig break in space station work Moscow a in an Economy move the Sovi ets arc bringing their cosmonauts Home from space station Mir next week and leaving it unmanned until August the station s a Puly flight director said tues Day. The announcement came a Day after aviation week and space technology reported in the United states that Mir had developed a serious electrical Power problem. But the space official Viktor d. Blagoev said no technical problems had cropped up in Trie 3-year-old orbiting Complex that is the showcase of inc soviet space program. Blagoev said plans to keep soviets aboard the station continuously were abandoned for several reasons. By this action we Are of course economizing some sum which can be used for other purposes he said by Telephone from the Mission control Center. Me did not identify the other purposes but the pub Lic has called for the untold millions of rubles spent on space to be diverted Loward ending chronic shortages of consumer goods and food. Ill Agov  soviet scientists were swamped by information gathered from Mir which was launched pc. 20, 1986. They must pause to review what we have accomplished and decide whal s next he said another reason for putting Mir on automatic Mode is to give a rest to its support staff Al Mission control Iti