Bermuda's doomed NASA station has been given a dramatic six-month reprieve by Mission Control.

All experts at the tracking centre had been due to leave Bermuda this Wednesday.

But now a skeleton crew will stay on the Island until the end of March, to provide vital voice-data for space shuttle astronauts.

The station has already sold $33 million worth of hi-tech equipment to the US Air Force.

Even more state-of-the-art technical equipment is set to be auctioned off in a grand NASA sale at the station by the end of the year.

But the future of the Cooper's Island base is still shrouded in mystery -- as it emerged over the weekend that the US Government still hasn't relinquished its rights to the land.

The Royal Gazette reported in July that US Air Force chiefs had turned down an ambitious blueprint by two senior officers to take over the station to track satellites.

But the US Air Force could still be central to the future of the base, with other US agencies also in line to ask the White House for permission to relocate to Bermuda.

Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said Government had already asked the US to find out the proposals for the land.

"We have not yet been given one year's notice that they no longer want the land,'' he said.

"Just because NASA are leaving does not mean another US agency will not be coming in. Under the terms of the lease, the land is theirs until 2040.'' Station manager Bill Way revealed NASA had switched its plans to close the station from a total shutdown to a "phase down''.

The station, which has monitored all NASA space flights since 1961, closed phase one of its operation last April.

That was after Bermuda abandoned its telecommunications powers because of a new NASA tracking relay-satellite -- and space shuttle asronauts said an emotional farewell in a live link-up with the Cooper's Island crew.

Phase two of the wind-down comes on Wednesday, when the station rips up its radar capability.

And phase three of the shutdown -- the final closure -- has now been given an extended countdown until March 31.

NASA wins reprieve It is understood NASA chiefs in Houston were worried the hurricane-hit tracking station in Antigua may not be able to continue monitoring space flights.

Now Bermuda will keep providing an air-to-ground voice system for astronauts -- and could still blow up satellite launchers which stray off orbit.

Mr. Way added that a 13-strong clean-up crew would also stay behind, packing up equipment to ship to Air Force and NASA bases around the US.

"Around $33 million worth of radar equipment is being taken by the Air Force at Fort Walton Beach in Florida,'' he said.

"The electronics from our antenna went back to the NASA base in Wallops Island, Virginia. And we have had staff leaving every few days, taking up posts in different parts of the world.'' Offers for the expert technicians have come in from Antarctica, Alaska, Norway and the US Air Force at Colorado Springs.

Other jobs are available at the Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, which has also taken containers full of equipment from Cooper's Island.

But the future is still uncertain for many of the staff because their direct employers, Al `Things are still up in the air for a lot of these people. Some of them are going back to Goddard not knowing if their contract will be up within 90 days, at the end of the year.' -- NASA's Bill Way -liedSignal, are competing with Boeing for NASA's technical services contract.

"Things are still up in the air for a lot of these people,'' said Mr. Way.

"Some of them are going back to Goddard not knowing if their contract will be up within 90 days, at the end of the year. But Boeing have promised that if they do win the contract, there will be jobs for AlliedSignal technical staff.

It's all become a bit of an anti-climax.''