1.   Arkansas officials, he had heard, are sending signals that they may try to provide funding to keep the line open to Little Rock.

2.   After that, we would need new funding to keep going.

3.   The Russians are in the final weeks of a so far unsuccessful bid to find a private source of funding to keep Mir operating for several more years.

4.   Mir has been orbiting unmanned since August as the cash-strapped space program searches for funding to keep it aloft.