Mir Space Station | Soyuz in Pravda | Soyuz Recovery | Mir Expeditions | Mir Space Station The space station Mir became a legend in its own time reflecting Russiaï¿½s past space glories and her future as a leader in space. The Russian Space Station Mir endured 15 years in orbit, three times its planned lifetime. It outlasted the Soviet Union, that launched it into space. It hosted scores of crewmembers and international visitors. It raised the first crop of wheat to be grown from seed to seed in outer space. It was the scene of joyous reunions, feats of courage, moments of panic, and months of grim determination. It suffered dangerous fires, a nearly catastrophic collision, and darkened periods of out-of-control tumbling. Mir soared as a symbol of Russiaï¿½s past space glories and her potential future as a leader in space. And it served as the stageï¿½historyï¿½s highest stageï¿½for the first large-scale, technical partnership between Russia and the United States after a half-century of mutual antagonism. Mir did all of that and like most legends was controversial and paradoxical.

At different times and by different people, Mir was called both "venerable" and "derelict." It was also "robust," "accident-prone," and "a marvel," as well as "a lemon." For Russians, the very name "Mir" held meaning, feeling, and history. Mir translates into English as "world," "peace," and "village," but a single-word translation misses its full significance. Historically, after the Edict of Emancipation in 1861, the word "mir" referred to a Russian peasant community that owned its own land. A system of state-owned collective farms replaced the mir after the Russian revolution of 1917. Read an essay by Frank Culbertson, Shuttle-Mir Program Manager, on the meanings of "Mir: Whatï¿½s in a Name?" As with most legends, Mir was literally beyond the reach of most men and women, but it could be seen by many as a bright light arcing across the night sky. Mir undoubtedly provoked many thoughts around the globe about who weï¿½as a human raceï¿½are and where we are going.

The cosmonauts and astronauts who were fortunate enough to travel to Mir were always impressed by its appearance. Regardless, Mir remained difficult to describe. Someone once called Mir a 100-ton Tinker Toy, a term that recalled Mirï¿½s construction. Adding modules over the years, and then sometimes rearranging them, the Russians had built the strangest, biggest structure ever seen in outer space. Traveling at an average speed of 17,885 mph, the space station orbited about 250 miles above the Earth. Mir was both great and gracefulï¿½and incongruous and awkwardï¿½all at the same time. In outward appearance, Mir has also been compared to a dragonfly with its wings outstretched, and to a hedgehog whose spines could pierce a spacewalkerï¿½s suit. NASA-4 Mir Astronaut Jerry Linenger compared Mir to "six school buses all hooked together. It was as if four of the buses were driven into a four-way intersection at the same time. They collided and became attached. All at right angles to each other, these four buses made up the four Mir science modules.

ï¿½ Priroda and Spektr were relatively new additions ï¿½ and looked itï¿½each sporting shiny gold foil, bleached-white solar blankets, and unmarred thruster pods. Kvant-2 and Kristall ï¿½ showed their age. Solar blankets were yellowed ï¿½ and looked as drab as a Moscow winter and were pockmarked with raggedy holes, the result of losing battles with micrometeorite and debris strikes over the years." On the inside, Mir often surprised people, too, even when they thought they were ready for the view. By the time Americans arrived on Mirï¿½nearly a decade into its lifeï¿½the station had become cluttered with used-up and broken equipment and floating bags of trash. During Mirï¿½s lifetime, no adequate remedy was ever developed to deal with the stowage situation. Mir looked like a metal rabbit warren, or, as Mike Foale put it, "a bit like a frat house, but more organized and better looked after." Still, Mir was home and shelter to its crews, and how it looked to them depended on their perspectives and situations.

The ivory-like controls of the Base Block reminded David Wolf of classic science-fiction stories, such as The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells. After a fly-around in the cramped Soyuz capsule, Jerry Linenger wrote: "Looking into the station I could see a lone ray of light shining through the port widow and outlining the dining table. We had left some food out for dinner. It was the only time during my stay in space that Mir looked warm, inviting, and spacious. It reminded me of opening the door to a summer cottage that been boarded up for the winter, looking inside, and seeing familiar surroundings." Mir set every record in long-duration spaceflight. Physician Valeri Polyakov lived aboard Mir for a single, continuous-orbit stay of 437 days, 17 hours and 38 minutes. He completed his stay in 1995 as American Norm Thagard began his Mir residency. Polyakov's experiences contributed greatly to the biomedical studies of long-term human spaceflight conducted by the Institute of Biomedical Problems, where he served as Deputy Director.

Combined with an earlier Mir expedition flight, the Russian cosmonaut spent a total 678 days, 16 hours and 33 minutes on the Russian space station. However, his achievement for total time in space was surpassed in 1999 by Sergei Avdeyev who endured a total 747 days, 14 hours and 12 minutes, during three space missions. During Shuttle-Mir, Shannon Lucid set the space endurance record for women in 1996 when she spent 188 days, 4 hours and 00 minutes in orbit. Just as "mir"ï¿½the wordï¿½had many meanings for Russians, Mirï¿½the placeï¿½provoked many different feelings. In February 1995, Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov flew aboard the "near Mir" flight, STS-63, when the Shuttle rendezvoused with Mir. Six years earlier, Titov had spent a year aboard Mir as an expedition member, when Mir consisted of only the Base Block, the two Kvant modules, a Soyuz, and a Progress spacecraft.

About seeing Mir again, Titov said, "It was very wonderful, a wonderful view." STS-63 did not dock, but Titov visited Mir again as a crewmember of STS-86. Alas, the sturdy Mir was built on a sinking foundation. Without repeated boostings, all things in low Earth orbit must eventually come down. With the new International Space Station requiring much of the Russian space programï¿½s attention and financing, the Mir Space Station was doomed to be deorbited. A strong effort rallied in Russia to keep Mir aloft; and at one point, Russian State Duma representatives were calling for the firing of Yuri Koptev from his post as the head of Russiaï¿½s aerospace agency. However, on December 30, 2000, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed a resolution calling for Mir to be sunk into the ocean, early in 2001. Concerns circled the globe about Mir crashing into populated areas. Mirï¿½s path crossed over nearly every city on Earth.

Its orbits tracked over everything between 51 degrees North and South latitude, roughly within the limits of the Aleutian Islands to the north and the southern Andes Mountains to the south. Pieces of previous large spacecraft had landed in Canada, Australia, and southern South America, albeit fortunately without any damages or casualties. For Mir, Russia acquired insurance in the event that its deorbit caused some physical damage. Japan kept a close watch because the final orbit would bring the Mir over the island nation. The U.S. government provided Russia with tracking and trajectory data, atmospheric conditions, and even solar activity, which can cause the Earthï¿½s atmosphere to expand farther into space. Although there was considerable certainty that debris could be limited to falling in the ocean, Yuri Semenov, RSC Energia President, was quoted as saying, "We donï¿½t have a 100-percent safety guarantee." After more than 86,000 total orbits, Mir re-entered Earthï¿½s atmosphere on Friday, March 23, 2001, at 9 a.m. Moscow time. The 134-ton space structure broke up over the southern Pacific Ocean.

Some of its larger pieces blazed harmlessly into the sea, about 1,800 miles east of New Zealand. Observers in Fiji reported spectacular gold- and white-streaming lights. An amazing saga and a highly successful program finally had come to a watery end. Anatoly Solovyev had lived a total of 651 days on Mir and served as Mir-24 commander for Americans Mike Foale and David Wolf. He was quoted in Star City as saying, "I am especially sad these days. An entire era of our Soviet space program is ending, into which we invested not only our money but, what is more important, our intellectual potential." The Russiansï¿½ investment began when a Soviet Proton launcher boosted Mirï¿½s Base Block (core module) into orbit on February 20, 1986. This module resembled the existing Salyut-7 space station, but Mirï¿½s design called for expansion through the addition of future modules. Mirï¿½s first crew arrived in mid-March 1986, and the inaugural crew of Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyev stayed aboard until May 5, 1986.

This Solovyev would later become the Russian cochair of the Flight Operations Working Group for the Shuttle-Mir Program. And it was he who took charge of the Moscow Mission Control Center immediately after the Progress resupply vehicle collided with Mir, during NASA-5 Mir Astronaut Mike Foaleï¿½s residency. In 1987, the Soviets added Mirï¿½s first expansion module, Kvant-1, and had the worldï¿½s first modular space station. They still needed a more versatile way of transporting crews and equipment to and from Mirï¿½something like the American Space Shuttle. In 1988, the Soviets launched the Buran, a winged, reusable space vehicle and a close copy of the U.S. Shuttle. Its first flight was near perfect. However, at this point in history, the Soviet Union was crumbling. No further Buran flights were attempted; four planned orbiters remained unfinished. The Soyuz-TM vehicle and Progress-M resupply (cargo) vehicle became the transports of crews and supplies to the Mir. The Kvant-1 featured a docking port to accommodate the arrival of these spacecraft.

The system worked well as the Russian space station was unoccupied on only five brief occasions until its deorbit on March 23, 2001. During its existence, the station had remained almost continuously occupied for nine years. Mir continued to expand during the next years with the additions of modules for research and residence. Kvant-2 arrived in November 1989 with an airlock that allowed crewmembers access to the outside of the complex for extravehicular activities. Kristall, launched at the end of May 1990, housed Earth observation instruments and was used for semiconductor and biological experiments. Five years later, Spektr, a remote-sensing module for geophysical sciences, was added to the Mir. On June 29, 1995, U.S. Space Shuttles began docking with the Russian space station. Before this first docking, the Mir-19 crew used the Lyappa manipulator arm to relocate the Kristall, thus allowing ample clearance for Atlantis. In November 1995, a new docking module arrived via STS-74 and was attached to the Kristall to provide means for future dockings without interference.

The next year, on April 23, 1996, the final module, the Priroda, was added to the Mir. The complex retained a docked Soyuz-TM vehicle at all times as this spacecraft served as the crewï¿½s "lifeboat." The vehicle carried a maximum of three persons, took two to three days to reach its destination, and could remain docked with the Mir for approximately 200 days before its orbital lifetime limit expired. The resident Soyuz was used for an occasional, scheduled "fly-around" of the T-shaped Mir, but crews primarily ventured outside for extravehicular activities (EVAs). During Mirï¿½s lifetime, crewmembers spent more than 325 hours as part of 75 planned spacewalks to conduct research and repairs on the exterior of the structure. Additional hours were spent during three intravehicular walks inside the unpressurized Spektr module. Participants in the Mir EVAs included 29 Russian cosmonauts, 3 U.S. astronauts, 2 French astronauts, and 1 European Space Agency astronaut who was a citizen of Germany.

Cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev donned the Russian Orlan spacesuit for 16 spacewalks for a total time of 77 hours, 46 minutesï¿½more EVA time than any other spacewalker in the world. After the Russian space station moved into its second decade, the Mir became notorious as an accident-prone spacecraft, even as it remained unparalleled in continuous service. A 15-minute fire in an oxygen-generating device imperiled the station in February 1997. Failures of the Elektron electrolysis oxygen-enerating units and problems with attitude and environmental controls often seemed to alternate with computer malfunctions and power outages. The June 1997 collision with the Progress supply vehicle breached the integrity of the Spektrï¿½s hull and rendered that module uninhabitable. But, Mir remained; and its space explorers endured. Over its lifetime, the space station hosted 125 cosmonauts and astronauts from 12 different nations. It supported 17 space expeditions, including 28 long-term crews. Its residents arrived via the 31 spacecraft that docked with Mir; nine of the dockings involved the Space Shuttle.

Additionally, 64 uncrewed cargo vessels ferried supplies and equipment periodically to Mir. And, it served as a floating laboratory for 23,000 scientific and medical experiments. Although Mir was gone by early 2001 and the International Space Station (ISS) was growing rapidly in orbit, the U.S. and Russia were still using spacecraft as statecraft. On March 23ï¿½the same day as Mirï¿½s deorbitï¿½Russia expelled four U.S. diplomats and said it would expel 46 more, in retaliation for the American expulsion of 50 Russian diplomats for espionage-like activities. It wasnï¿½t the Cold War, all over again, but international tensions were certainly continuing, and the need remained for a worthy program for U.S. and Russian cooperation. One could still apply to the ISS the same hopes that Shuttle Commander Charlie Precourt had held for it during Shuttle-Mir.

Precourt had predicted that the ISS would "provide the psychological impetus for politicians to force themselves to find an agreement to disputes that otherwise they wouldnï¿½tï¿½because theyï¿½ll all look up there and say, ï¿½Well, we have an investment in that, too. We have to keep this relationship going in a proper direction.ï¿½" Although the U.S.-Russian relationship was still going in the "proper direction," toward continued cooperation in space, the proper use and the funding of ISS were still in question. NASA cost overruns for the ISS clouded the programï¿½s future, and Russiaï¿½s foreign department was threatening to reduce its participation in the ISS. To make the situation even more complicated, the ISS partner nations were discussing whether Russia should launch a wealthy, American "space tourist" to the space station. Notwithstanding all the diplomatic wrangling, Mirï¿½s demise also coincided neatly with the successful finish to the first U.S.-Russian expedition to the ISS. On March 22, 2001, Expedition One crewmembers Sergei Krikalev, Yuri Gidzenko, and Commander William Shepherd returned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

They received a ride from STS-102 Shuttle Commander James Wetherbee and a crew that included former Mir resident Andy Thomas. STS-102 had ferried the Expedition Two crew of James Voss, Susan Helms, and Commander Yury Usachev to the station. Just as the ISS itself grew out of the lessons of Mir, many of the principal people in the ISS Program drew from their experiences during the Shuttle-Mir Program. And, in Houston and in Moscow, American and Russian managers, engineers and technicians who had worked in the Shuttle-Mir Program were working to make the ISS a success. The International Space Station was growing, but the memories of Mir refused to fade. Indeed, people had anticipated its demise for long enough that, even before it fell, it had entered nostalgia. In a 1998 interview, Vladimir Semyachkin reflected on Mir. He had developed the motion control systems and navigation systems for all vehicles and stations that were produced and launched into space by RSC Energia. Semyachkin, as much as anyone, had wrestled with Mirï¿½s problems. He said: "Itï¿½s a shameï¿½.

Our child, who we gave birth to so many years ago, ï¿½ weï¿½re going to have to put it to sleep. But, on the other hand, we understand that sometimes thereï¿½s nothing to be doneï¿½. One cannot sit, as it were, on two chairs at the same time. Nevertheless, despite this sorrow with ï¿½ regard to Mir, we nonetheless do look forward to the future with a great deal of hope." Landed in Space Shuttle Atlantis July 7, 1995 The major objectives of the Mir-18 mission were to conduct joint U.S.-Russian medical research and weightlessness effects investigations; to reconfigure the station for the arrival of the Spektr science module; and to welcome the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The mission saw the first American to be part of a Mir crew, NASA-1 Mir Astronaut Norman Thagard (left), the addition of the first new module (Spektr) since Kristall arrived in 1990, and the first docking of a U.S. Space Shuttle (STS-71) with the Mir complex.

Pictured with Thagard are Commander Vladimir Dezhurov (center) and Flight Engineer Gennady Strekalov (right). Mir Principal Expedition 19 Landed in Soyuz-TM 21 September 11, 1995 The only complete Mir mission of 1995 with an all-Russian crew, Mir-19 had many international elements. As the first Mir crew launched on a Space Shuttle (STS-71, Atlantis), Commander Anatoly Solovyev (right) and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin (left) began their work in conjunction with the visiting U.S. crew and departing Mir-18 international crew. Two of their extravehicular activities involved deploying and retrieving international experiments. They ended their stay by welcoming the incoming international Euromir 95 crew. Mir Principal Expedition 20 Launched and landed in Soyuz-TM 22 September 3, 1995ï¿½February 27, 1996 Mir-20 was the second Mir mission with a Euromir designation and the second with a European Space Agency astronaut as part of the crew.

Cosmonaut Researcher Thomas Reiter (center) was the first non-Russian Mir crewmember with the added designation of Flight Engineer. Mir-20 was also the second Mir mission to include a U.S. Space Shuttle docking (STS-74, Atlantis). During that phase of the mission, the station complex housed crewmembers from four countries. Representing Russia were Commander Yuri Gidzenko, (left) and Flight Engineer Sergei Avdeyev (right). Reiter represented Germany as a member of the European Space Agency. Chris Hadfield, representing the Canadian Space Agency, arrived with the STS-74 crewï¿½U.S. astronauts Kenneth Cameron, James Halsell, Jr., Jerry Ross, and William McArthur, Jr.

Mir Principal Expedition 21 Launched and landed in Soyuz-TM 23 February 21ï¿½September 2, 1996 Commander Yuri Onufriyenko (right) and Flight Engineer Yury Usachev (center) began their mission without the third crewmember, NASA-2 Mir Astronaut Shannon Lucid (left), who would join them on March 23 during STS-76, the third Atlantis-Mir docking mission. On one of the seven extravehicular activities during Mir-21, two STS-76 astronauts, Linda Godwin and Michael (Rich) Clifford, walked outside Mir; the first U.S. extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the two mated spacecraft and the first U.S. spacewalk outside a space station since Skylabï¿½22 years earlier. On two other EVAs, Onufriyenko and Usachev installed a new solar array on the Kvant module. In May 1996, the last permanent module was added to the complex, Priroda, with its large complement of Earth science experiments.

Mir Principal Expedition 22 Launched and landed in Soyuz-TM 24 August 17, 1996ï¿½March 2, 1997 Commander Valeri Korzun (top right), Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri (top left), and French Researcher Claudie Andre-Deshays (bottom center) joined Shannon Lucid (top center) and the Mir-21 crew, Commander Yuri Onufriyenko (bottom right) and Flight Engineer Yury Usachev (bottom left), on Mir. Andre-Deshays returned to Earth with the Mir-21 crew after about two weeks onboard the station. Lucidï¿½s stay with the Mir-22 Expedition crew was lengthened about six weeks due to a Space Shuttle launch postponement. STS-79 launched on September 16, 1996, delivering NASA-3 resident John Blaha and returning home with Lucid onboard on September 26. STS-81 launched on January 12, 1997, with the next U.S. resident, Jerry Linenger, who later performed a spacewalk in a Russian Orlan spacesuit.

Mir Principal Expedition 23 Launched and landed Soyuz-TM 25 February 10, 1997ï¿½August 14, 1997 Mir-23 had more troubles than any other Mir expedition, including an onboard fire that occurred early in the mission with six crewmembers onboardï¿½Mir-22 crew, Valeri Korzun, Alexander Kaleri and German Researcher Reinhold Ewald; Mir-23 crew, Commander Vasily Tsibliev (left) and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Lazutkin (right); and NASA-4 resident Jerry Linenger (center). Challenges continued for the Mir-23 crew after NASA-5 Mir Astronaut Mike Foale arrived on STS-84, when a Progress resupply vehicle collided with Mirï¿½s Spektr module, causing a loss of station control and depressurization.

Mir Principal Expedition 24 Launched and landed Soyuz-TM 26 August 5, 1997ï¿½February 15, 1998 Mir-24 hosted three American astronauts, NASA-5 resident Mike Foale, NASA-6 resident David Wolf (center), and NASA-7 resident Andy Thomas. Mir continued to have systems problems, but overall conditions improved. Wolf performed an extravehicular activity with Commander Anatoly Solovyev (right). Also onboard Mir-24 was Flight Engineer Pavel Vinogradov (left). Mir Principal Expedition 25 Launched and landed Soyuz-TM 27 January 29, 1998ï¿½August 25, 1998 Mir-25 was the last Shuttle-Mir expedition. French Astronaut Leopold Eyharts flew to Mir with the Mir-25 crew and returned to Earth with the Mir-24 crew. Russian Phase 1 Manager Valery Ryumin visited Mir with the crew of STS-91, which brought NASA-7 Mir Astronaut Andy Thomas back to Earth.

Mir-25 crewmembers were Commander Talgat Musabayev and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin. Pictured are (top row, left to right) Ryumin, STS-91 crewmember Wendy Lawrence, Thomas, STS-91 crewmember Janet Kavandi, Budarin; (bottom row, left to right) STS-91 Commander Charlie Precourt, Musabayev, and STS-91 crewmembers Dominic Gorie and Franklin Chang-Diaz. BBC - Space - International Space Station - (facts, video & pictures) Living in space Astronaut Piers Sellers talks to Patrick Moore about life orbiting Earth. British-born NASA astronaut Piers Sellers talks to Patrick Moore about life on the International Space Station. He discusses the astronauts' daily routine, living conditions and what food tastes like in space. About International Space Station (ISS) The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest artificial body in orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth.

The ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays, and other components. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, and American Space Shuttles. The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars. The ISS maintains an orbit with an altitude of between 330 and 435 km (205 and 270 mi) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft. It completes 15.54 orbits per day. The ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US. The station has been continuously occupied for 7008509822528000000♠16 years and 56 days since the arrival of Expedition 1 on 2 November 2000.

This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 7008314841600000000♠9 years and 357 days held by Mir. The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the American Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, and formerly the Space Shuttle and the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. It has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 17 different nations. After the US Space Shuttle programme ended in 2011, Soyuz rockets became the only provider of transport for astronauts at the International Space Station, and Dragon became the only provider of bulk cargo return to Earth services (downmass capability of Soyuz capsules is very limited). The ISS programme is a joint project among five participating space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA. The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations.

As of January 2014[update], the American portion of ISS is being funded until 2024. Roscosmos has endorsed the continued operation of ISS through 2024, but has proposed using elements of the Russian Orbital Segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK. On 28 March 2015, Russian sources announced that Roscosmos and NASA had agreed to collaborate on the development of a replacement for the current ISS. NASA later issued a guarded statement expressing thanks for Russia's interest in future co-operation in space exploration, but fell short of confirming the Russian announcement. Space Today Online -- Space Factoids -- part 2 Salyut: The World's First Space Stations A space station is a satellite like any other, except it can house people for long periods of time. Many unmanned satellites have been as large as a space station, have flown at the same altitudes and, in many ways, have been as complex. However, the significant difference is the life-support system built into the station to keep its human occupants alive and safe from the rigorous space environment. More than 100 men and women have lived and worked aboard space stations in Earth orbit. While the U.S.

won the race to the Moon in 1969, the Soviet Union won the competition for first space station with the launch of its Salyut-1 in 1971. Salyut 1 was fired to a 200-mi.-high Earth orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 19, 1971. Cosmonauts Nikolai Rukavishnikov, Vladimir Shatalov and Alexei Yeliseyev became the first men to go to a space station, leaving the USSR on April 22 in Soyuz 10. They docked at Salyut 1 on April 24, stayed in dock less six hours, then hurried home. A Soyuz 11 crew went to the space station in June and stayed 23 days. Salyut 1 then fell from orbit Oct. 11. The USSR space program advanced quickly with the launch of Salyut-2 in 1973, Salyut-3 in 1974, Salyut-4 in 1974 and Salyut-5 in 1976.

In fact, Russia's first two generations of space stations were known by the name Salyut. Salyuts 1 to 5 were considered the first generation of Russian space station technology. Salyuts 6 and 7 launched in 1977 and 1982 were a second generation. Mir, the eighth Russian space station, launched in 1986, was an improved version of Salyut 7. It had the same mass, outer contours and main dimensions as Salyut 7. Mir: The First Permanent Residence in Space Russia's Mir space station was the world's first permanent residence in space. It was occupied by cosmonauts almost continuously from 1986 to 1999. Mir surpassed 15 years in orbit in February 2001 and then re-entered the atmosphere in a fiery descent in March 2001. Most of the 130-ton outpost burned up over the South Pacific between Australia and Chile, although 30 tons may have survived re-entry through Earth's atmosphere to splash into the ocean. MIR TIMELINE Mir included an original core module plus five modules added on over the years.

The oldest part of Mir was aloft more than 5,000 days. A small 19-ft. astronomy observatory module called Kvant-1 was sent up and attached to the station in 1987. A 19-ton expansion module as big as the Mir core itself, Kvant-2, was sent to the station in 1989, relieving overcrowding by doubling the size of the station. The Kristall module, launched in 1990, was the same size as Kvant-2 and the original Mir. Spektr was sent up in 1995 and Priroda in 1996. Russia had planned originally to send up and link six 43-ft. Mir clones to form one 250,000-lb. six-pointed star, 85-90 feet in diameter. At its end, the Mir complex weighed a total of 130 tons. Mir's six modules orbiting 225 miles above Earth were arranged in a T shape creating a complete spacecraft about the size of railroad car. It was 98 feet wide and 85 feet long.

The Mir core The original component of Russia's Mir space station weighed 42,000 lbs. and was 43 feet long with a diameter of 13 feet -- as big as a house trailer in orbit. Five modules were added to that core in orbit after the core was launched in 1986. Mir, the core module for the entire complex, was more like a home than the earlier Salyut space stations. It had a larger, more-palatable galley, several recreation facilities, bigger bathroom with nicer shower, and private compartments for crew members. Specifically, the Mir core contained an operations area and a living area. The living area had crew quarters, galley and personal hygiene area. Each crewmember had his or her own cabin with chair, sleeping bag and porthole. The personal hygiene area had a toilet, sink and shower. The galley had a table, cooking elements and trash storage. BR> Mir crews could adjust the temperature inside the space station for shirt-sleeve work from 64 degrees to 82 degrees Fahrenheit. The operations area was the control area for the Mir complex. The crew could monitor and command core systems, science equipment and facilities, and piloting station.

The habitable parts of the Mir complex all had distinct floor, walls and ceilings, including carpet on the floor, colored walls and a white ceiling with flourescent lighting. Although the concepts of up and down have no meaning in microgravity, having floors, walls and ceilings allowed the crew a semblance of normalcy. Kvant-1 Kvant-1, 19 ft. long and 14 ft. diameter, was the astrophysics module attached to Mir's aft docking port. It provided information for research into the physics of active galaxies, quasars and neutron stars by measuring the electromagnetic spectrum and X-rays. Kvant-2 Kvant-2, 40 ft. long and 14 ft. diameter, was the scientific and airlock module. It had Earth observation photographic equipment and provided EVA capability and biotechnology research data. The airlock allowed access to the outside of Mir, which allowed for experiments about the effects of space exposure on electronics and construction materials. Kristall The Kristall technology module was used for biological and materials processing technology development in space. It housed equipment that produced semiconductors and other high-tech materials that benefit from the low gravity environment of space.

Its other apparatus included a greenhouse designed to cultivate plants in zero gravity. Kristall had a space shuttle docking port. Spektr The Spektr module, which arrived at the Mir complex in June, 1995, contained equipment for atmospheric research and surface studies. Priroda The Priroda remote sensing module, launched in Spring 1996, contained active, passive and infra-red radiometers, a synthetic aperture radar, and several types of spectrometers used for measuring ozone and aerosol concentrations in Earth's atmosphere. Whizzing right along Mir circled Earth about 16 times a day at a speed of 17,500 mph. The station was in a circular orbit at an altitude of approximately 250 mi. (400 km) above Earth. It took 92 minutes to complete a trip around Earth. It took two days for cosmonauts to fly in a Soyuz capsule from Russia to the Mir space station.

Tuning in the cosmonauts When overhead, the cosmonauts aboard Mir space station could be heard talking by radio with mission control on the VHF frequencies of 143.625 and 143.825 MHz. Sometimes they were heard chatting with ham radio operators on Earth at 145.800 and 149.985 and 437.950 MHz. Listeners on the ground could monitor Mir communications with a typical scanner radio used to tune in police and fire calls -- if they happened to be in position under Mir's 2,800 mi. wide (4,400 km) footprint on Earth as the station passed overhead. Licensed amateur radio operators could contact the Mir crew and chat with them. Visiting the space station A total of about 100 cosmonauts and astronauts lived aboard Mir, including seven NASA astronauts, a Japanese journalist, a British candy maker and numerous visitors from other countries. Several were from countries that had no other access to space. Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov stayed the longest, 438 days in 1994-95.

Some 16,500 experiments were conducted on board the station. Many of those dealt with one subject -- humans adapting to long-term space flight. Fifteen newts and eighty snails lived aboard the Mir space station for a time in 1998, after being flown there aboard a Progress resupply ship. The animals were part of a long-term scientific experiment to see what effects weightlessness has on living organisms. The two-year-old Oriental newts, provided by a Moscow zoo, were said to be smaller than a batch of eight Spanish newts that died after a space flight earlier that year. Cosmonauts filmed the newts and snails as they crawled out of their containers and floated around the station. The newts and snails were returned to Earth. Using the station to make money A decade earlier, the USSR had spent $17 billion a year on space -- until the Soviet nation ran short of funds. The cash-strapped government then decided to turn the Mir space station into a manufacturing plant in the sky. The Russians wanted to make big profits as cosmonauts manufactured protein crystals for new medical drugs. For example, a 25-million-ruble profit resulted from the sale of 220 lbs.

of drugs for 105 million rubles. After all, it cost only 80 million rubles to manufacture the drugs in space. The cosmonauts also produced other organic and inorganic substances made better in weightlessness -- glass, metal alloys and semiconductor materials. The Russians had a grand plan to earn profits by charging businesses for tests in Kristall and by charging nations for guest-cosmonaut trips to Mir. That tourist plan continued in the 21st century, after the end of the Mir era, with several space tourist flights aboard Russian Soyuz transports to the International Space Station. Today there is a Russian yogurt cultured from bacteria in the saliva and guts of cosmonauts aboard Mir station. Spaceflight stress upset their immunity, according to the Moscow Institute of Biomedical Problems. That allowed bad bacteria to attack good bacteria. Microbiologists developed the yogurt in the 1980s as a remedy. Cosmonauts ate yogurt before blast-off. Today, it comes as fruit-flavored yogurt, cottage cheese and traditional Russian cheeses studded with garlic and herbs. The draft board sent its greetings Someone at the draft board in Russia persisted in trying to summon Sergei Krikalev to Soviet military service.

The bureaucrat on the ground didn't know space-hero Krikalev had been serving his country aboard the orbiting Mir space station for months in 1988-89, even though the cosmonaut's activities were reported in USSR newspapers and on TV every day. Several written orders from Krikalev's draft board, demanding his appearance at the conscription center, arrived at Krikalev's home on Earth, but the post office didn't forward them to him in space. Krikalev disappointed the draft board by not returning to Earth ahead of schedule. Tired old bucket of bolts Mir space station suffered more than 1,600 breakdowns, including an onboard fire in 1997 and a near-fatal collision with a Progress cargo ship that same year. A Tokyo trader bought a back-up unflown Mir space station and unflown Kvant add-on module from the Russians for $10 million. Yutaka Horie outbid companies in Canada, France, South Korea and the U.S., then put the hardware on display in a museum in Japan. Progress space freighter Progress cargo freighters ferryed supplies up to Mir station in Earth orbit.

Every eight weeks when Mir was occupied, an unmanned Progress freighter would carry 5,000 lbs. of goods to the station -- food, fuel, water, clothing and other necessities as well as scientific experiments to be conducted, replacement parts, and newspapers and mail from home. Progress freighters provide that same service today to the International Space Station. Progress is a single-use, unmanned version of the Soyuz human transport capsule used to ferry men and women to space. Life-support gear, parachutes, re-entry heat shields and solar panels are removed from the Soyuz capsule to create a Progress. A docking collar with radar homing transmitter and TV cameras mounted on the outside of Progress is used to guide the unmanned freighter to a space station dock. A round cargo hold behind the docking collar has a special frame with quick-release tie-downs holding 3,000 lbs. of packages. Behind that freight module is a fuel module with 2,000 lbs. of compressed air and nitrogen, hydrazine fuel and oxidizer. Oxygen has to be added to a space station from time to time as some is lost when airlocks are opened for spacewalks.

Pumps move fuel, air and nitrogen from tanks aboard Progress to tanks inside a space station. Refueling can even be done without a crew at a space station. Like all Earth satellites, a space station slowly slips down toward the atmosphere. It needs to be lifted back to its original altitude from time to time. Over the years, as Mir station fell lower, the Russians used empty Progress cargo freighters as space tugs to push the station back up to a slightly higher orbit. Cosmonauts aboard Mir station generated a ton of trash each month. They would load it into an empty Progress cargo freighter, undock the Progress from Mir, and command it to fall into Earth's upper atmosphere where it would burn up over the South Pacific Ocean. America's Space Station: Skylab America was the sole proprietor of only one space station in the 20th century -- Skylab. Leftover Apollo Moon-mission capsules ferried three men to the station in each of three flights in 1973-1974. NASA had enjoyed large budgets during the 1960s space race and wanted to continue into the 1970s.

The agency planned to expand Project Apollo into an Apollo Applications Program (AAP), which would have been a space station in Earth orbit as a pit stop for astronauts on their way to the Moon and Mars. However, after six spectacular manned Apollo landings on the Moon, much of NASA's money dried up. Many politicians said space spectaculars were unnecessary since the U.S. had won the race. Forced to choose, NASA canceled three Moon landing flights and built one space station. The name AAP was changed to Skylab. NASA outfitted what it called an orbital workshop on the ground and launched it to Earth orbit in 1973. At 77.5 tons and 118 feet long, Skylab was one of the largest satellites ever sent to orbit. Astronauts were shipped to the station three at a time in left-over Apollo Moon capsules, in flights from May 1973 through February 1974. The three groups stayed a total of 172 days at Skylab in 1973-74. The longest stay by one group was 84 days. NASA drew up plans for a larger space station, but sharply-reduced budgets again forced tough decisions.

Skylab went unused after just three visits. Plans for a second station were dumped. NASA preferred a reusable space transportation system to carry men and equipment to orbit, so the limited money available was switched to designing and building space shuttles. Skylab was allowed to fall from orbit in 1979. The International Space Station The first element of the International Space Station (ISS) sent to orbit was Russia's Zarya (FGB) module launched in 1998 by Russia on a Proton booster from the Baiknour Cosmodrome in Kazakstan. Later, the United States' Unity module was carried to space in a shuttle flight STS-88. A crane was delivered by shuttle flight STS-96. The next element was the Russian-built Service Module, with life support, sleeping quarters, toilet and galley, as well as the primary docking port for Russian Progress resupply vehicles, and attitude control and orbital reboost thrusters. Astronauts aboard space shuttles have to keep track of 5,000 loose items such as photo equipment, supplies, food, tools, hygiene materials, payload parts and spares.

By comparison, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have to track more than 50,000 items. NASA attaches a tiny electronic tag one-fourth the size of a postage stamp to each item, then uses a solar-powered infrared transmitter to read 15,000 tags per second quickly up to 40 feet away across a room.

Question: Name the Soviet Russian orbiting space station, continuously occupied 1989-99 until its replacement by the International Space Station?
Answer: Mir