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Mir

Mir module launch dates:
Mir ("peace" and "world") - Orbital Station 20 February 1986
Kvant ("quantum") 1 - Mir astrophysics module 31 March 1987
Kvant 2 - Mir scientific/airlock module 26 November 1989
Kristall - Materials processing laboratory 31 May 1990
Spektr ("spectrum") - Mir technological module 20 May 1995
Priroda ("nature") - Remote Earth sensing 23 April 1996
 
 
Mir deorbit into the South Pacific 23 March 2001

 


The Mir Expeditions
EO-1 Soyuz T-15
EO-2 Soyuz TM-2
EO-3 Soyuz TM-4
EO-4 Soyuz TM-7
EO-5 Soyuz TM-8
EO-6 Soyuz TM-9
EO-7 Soyuz TM-10
EO-8 Soyuz TM-11
EO-9 Soyuz TM-12
EO-10 Soyuz TM-13
EO-11 Soyuz TM-14
EO-12 Soyuz TM-15
EO-13 Soyuz TM-16
EO-14 Soyuz TM-17
EO-15 Soyuz TM-18
EO-16 Soyuz TM-19
EO-17 Soyuz TM-20
EO-18 Soyuz TM-21
EO-19 STS-71
EO-20 Soyuz TM-22
EO-21 Soyuz TM-23
EO-22 Soyuz TM-24
EO-23 Soyuz TM-25
EO-24 Soyuz TM-26
EO-25 Soyuz TM-27
EO-26 Soyuz TM-28
EO-27 Soyuz TM-29
EO-28 Soyuz TM-30

Notes: Mir has also been visited by Soyuz TM-3, Soyuz TM-5, Soyuz TM-6, STS-63 (did not dock), STS-74, STS-76, STS-79, STS-81, STS-84, STS-86, STS-89, and STS-91, but these have not been assigned Mir Expedition designations. There was also a docking 23-29 May 1986 of the unmanned Soyuz TM-1.
The designations EO- are sometimes reported as Mir-. In other words, EO-26 and Mir-26 are different ways of saying the same thing.
Due to lack of funding, Mir was abandoned when EO-27 (Soyuz TM-29) departed on 28 Aug 1999. The orbit of Mir began to decay, but a resupply mission on 3 Feb 2000 boosted it 40 to 60 km further into space.
EO-28 (Soyuz TM-30) was the first and only privately funded mission. Supposedly, private funding was found to send another mission in 2001. However, the failure to meet commitments by the US/European MirCorp ended plans for Mir to again be continuously occupied for 3 years beginning in 2001.
During its life, Mir survived a fire and a collision with a Progress vessel which left the Spektr module leaking air and unusable. Even these near disasters and numerous problems due to the age of Mir was not enough to deter the Russians. The Soviet/Russian space program proved to be resilient and resourceful. Ultimately, the cost of upkeep was more than the Russian economy could handle, in light of their commitments to the International Space Station.
After twice experiencing power failures in late December 2000, a decision was made to deorbit Mir. There was much concern that Mir, which was 15 years old 20 February 2001, would plunge back to Earth uncontrolled. Russia, however, was able to successfully deorbit the aging Mir and dump it harmlessly into the open waters of the Pacific far east of New Zealand.


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Credit - NASA
Mir and Atlantis
Credit - NASA
Click an image to enlarge

The above photo on the right shows the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-71) docked with Mir on 4 July 1995. Photo was taken from Soyuz TM-21. The Soyuz had undocked and backed off before Atlantis undocked. Soyuz TM-21 then returned and redocked.

 


Page last modified: 20 June 2022 16:59:02.