THE SITUATION 10:35 p.m. Moscow time, February 23, 1997. After a
dinner of jellied piked perch and borscht, cosmonaut Sasha
Lazutkin activates a backup oxygen canister to accommodate the
overlapping six-man crew. Soon after, the master alarm erupts.
American astronaut Jerry Linenger's eyes widen at the sight of a
4-foot flame shooting across the Kvant 1 research module. Warm
air doesn't rise in a weightless environment, so fires can't
spread with earthly speed. But this one has a built-in oxygen
supply. The blowtorch-like flame renders the station's water-
based extinguishers useless and blocks access to one of the two
Soyuz vehicles. That means only three of the six men can
evacuate if the call comes. THE RESPONSE Unable to suppress the
fire directly, commander Valeri Korzun aims the extinguisher at
the far wall to keep it from melting. The extinguisher acts like
a thruster in zero G, so Linenger has to keep the cosmonaut
steady, then ferry in new extinguishers when the old ones run
out. The rest of the crew