Mir

Mir (???, which can mean both world and peace in Russian) was a highly successful Soviet (and later Russian) space station. It was humanity's first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space. Through a number of collaborations, it was made internationally accessible to cosmonauts and astronauts of many different countries. Mir was assembled in orbit by successively connecting several modules, each launched separately from February 19, 1986 to 1996. The station existed until March 23, 2001, at which point it was deliberately de-orbited and broke apart during atmospheric re-entry.

History

Mir was based upon the Salyut series of space stations previously launched by the Soviet Union (seven Salyut space stations had been launched since 1971). It was mainly serviced by Russian-manned Soyuz spacecraft and Progress cargo ships, however it was anticipated that it would also be the destination for flights by the later abandoned Buran space shuttle. The orbiting Mir's purpose was to provide a large and livable scientific laboratory in outer space.

Related Topics:
Salyut - Soyuz spacecraft - Progress - Buran

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The United States had planned to build Space Station Freedom as its counterpart to Mir, however this project was cancelled after the fall of the Soviet Union made an international cooperation possible (see International Space Station). In later years, after the end of the cold war, the Shuttle-Mir program combined Russia's Mir capabilities with United States space shuttles and allowed a couple of American and other western astronauts to visit or stay long-term on the station. The visiting US shuttles used a modified docking collar originally designed for the Soviet Buran shuttle.

Related Topics:
Space Station Freedom - International Space Station - Shuttle-Mir - United States - Space shuttles

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With the space shuttle docked to Mir the temporary enlargements of living and working areas amounted to a complex that was the world's largest spacecraft, with a combined mass of 250 tons, at that time in space history.

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Inside, the 100-ton Mir looked like a cramped labyrinth, crowded with hoses, cables and scientific instruments – as well as articles of everyday life, such as photos, children's drawings, books and a guitar. It commonly housed three crewmembers, but it sometimes supported as many as six for up to a month. Except for two short periods, Mir was continuously occupied until August 1999.

Related Topics:
Labyrinth - 1999

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The journey of the 15-year-old Russian space station ended March 23, 2001, as Mir re-entered the Earth's atmosphere near Nadi, Fiji, and fell into the South Pacific Ocean. Near the end of its life, there were plans for private interests to purchase Mir, possibly for use as the first orbital television/movie studio, but the station was deemed too unstable to be safely used any further. Many in the space community still felt that at least some of Mir was salvageable and that considering the extremely high costs of getting material into orbit, simply disposing of Mir was a seriously wasted opportunity.

Related Topics:
March 23 - 2001 - Earth's atmosphere - Nadi - Fiji - Pacific Ocean

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In addition to Soviet/Russian cosmonauts, Mir hosted international scientists and U.S. astronauts.

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