The collision also sped up the satellite's spin period from 5.6 seconds to 2.1 seconds, Kelso said.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

But BBC News Online science editor David Whitehouse says that if contact with Mir is lost for an extended period, it will start to spin, and it would become impossible for a rescue team to dock.

BBC: You are in: Sci/Tech

Former Downing Street spin doctor Lance Price, who published his diaries of the period between 1997 and 2001 earlier this year, told the committee he had waited five years before publication and - unlike many anonymous Whitehall sources - his name was "on the dust jacket".

BBC: Sir Christopher Meyer

The arrival of Chanderpaul - who made 46 off just 30 balls - triggered a fast-scoring period, but West Indies were again stalled when Simmons finally fell, to the spin of Batty - James Anderson holding the catch at deep square leg.

BBC: England win after farcical finish