Bowing to U.S. pressure and domestic financial woes, Russia has decided to bring down its veteran Mir space station next summer, six months ahead of schedule. The Russian Space Agency is now targetting July 1999 for Mir's controlled plunge through the atmosphere, although earlier plans called for the station to remain in orbit until December next year. The decision was at the prodding of NASA, which thought Russia could not afford to finance both Mir and the construction of a new international space station.