31.  In statements to the ITAR-Tass news agency late last week, Russian space agency chief Yuri Koptev predicted a September liftoff for the module.

32.  It created a fresh complication for the effort to repair the trouble-plagued Mir and forced Russian space officials to consider delaying the operation.

33.  It cited Russian space officials for not being candid with their U.S. counterparts and faulted NASA for not being open with lawmakers and the public.

34.  James Oberg, a Houston-based consultant on the Russian space program, said NASA might be overstating the benefits gained from the program.

35.  James Oberg, a Houston-based engineer and expert on the Russian space program, questioned whether the crew members on the Mir were getting enough exercise.

36.  Measurement of the size and intensity of the Antarctic ozone hole is an international operation in which cooperation between NASA and the Russian space agency has become important.

37.  More important, the Russian space program, struggling for funds like most state ventures, would have been seriously endangered.

38.  Mir has come to represent the brilliance and decline of the once-mighty Russian space program.

39.  NASA sees the series of current cooperative missions as creating a reliable American yardstick by which to gauge the vast amount of Russian space research.

40.  NASA should work more closely with the Russian space agency to identify and resolve differences in shielding and repair procedures, the report said.