WORLD IN BRIEF : SOVIET UNION : Spacecraft Heads for Stranded Astronauts

The Soviet Union said that it launched an unmanned spacecraft to ferry equipment, food and drinking water to cosmonauts stranded since February in the orbiting Mir space station. A special Kristall module, aboard a Proton rocket launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, is scheduled to dock with Mir on June 6, the official Tass news agency said. Insulation on a Soyuz spacecraft carrying cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Alexander Balandin to Mir was damaged during its launch Feb. 11. The cosmonauts are planning a space walk to repair the insulation damage. Soviet officials said they are not in danger.