Mir
Encyclopedia
Mir was a space station
operated in low Earth orbit
from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union
and then by Russia
. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the largest artificial satellite
orbiting the Earth until its deorbit on 21 March 2001 (a record now surpassed by the International Space Station
). Mir served as a microgravity research
laboratory
in which crews conducted experiment
s in biology
, human biology
, physics
, astronomy
, meteorology
and spacecraft systems in order to develop technologies required for the permanent occupation of space
.
The station was the first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space and was operated by a series of long-duration crews. The Mir programme held the record for the longest uninterrupted human presence in space, at 3,644 days, until 23 October 2010 (when it was surpassed by the ISS), and it currently holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, of Valeri Polyakov, at 437 days 18 hours. Mir was occupied for a total of twelve and a half years of its fifteen-year lifespan, having the capacity to support a resident crew of three, and larger crews for short-term visits.
Following the success of the Salyut programme, Mir represented the next stage in the Soviet Union's space station programme. The first module of the station, known as the core module
or base block, was launched in 1986, and was followed by six further modules, all launched by Proton rockets (with the exception of the docking module
). When complete, the station consisted of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components. Power was provided by several photovoltaic arrays mounted directly on the modules. The station was maintained at an orbit between 296 km (184 mi) and 421 km (262 mi) altitude and traveled at an average speed of 27,700 km/h (17,200 mph), completing 15.7 orbits per day.
The station was originally launched as part of the Soviet Union's manned spaceflight programme
effort to maintain a long-term research outpost in space, and, following the collapse of the USSR, was operated by the new Russian Federal Space Agency
(RKA). As a result, the vast majority of the station's crew were Soviet or Russian; however, through international collaborations, including the Intercosmos
, Euromir and Shuttle-Mir
programmes, the station was made accessible to astronaut
s from North America, several European nations and Japan. The cost of the Mir programme was estimated by former RKA General Director Yuri Koptev
in 2001 as $4.2 billion over its lifetime (including development, assembly and orbital operation). The station was serviced by Soyuz spacecraft, Progress spacecraft and U.S. space shuttle
s, and was visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 12 different nations.
and the backup DOS-8) would be equipped with a total of four docking ports; two at either end of the station as with the Salyut stations, and an additional two ports on either side of a docking sphere at the front of the station to enable further modules to expand the station's capabilities. By August 1978, this had evolved to the final configuration of one aft port and five ports in a spherical compartment at the forward end of the station.
It was originally planned that the ports would connect to 7.5 tonne modules derived from the Soyuz spacecraft
. These modules would have used a Soyuz propulsion module, as in Soyuz and Progress
, and the descent and orbital modules would have been replaced with a long laboratory module. However, following a February 1979 governmental resolution, the programme was consolidated with Vladimir Chelomei
's manned Almaz
military space station programme. The docking ports were reinforced to accommodate 20 tonne (22 short tons) space station modules based on the TKS spacecraft
. NPO Energia
was responsible for the overall space station, with work subcontracted to KB Salyut, due to ongoing work on the Energia
rocket
and Salyut 7
, Soyuz-T, and Progress
spacecraft. KB Salyut began work in 1979, and drawings were released in 1982 and 1983. New systems incorporated into the station included the Salyut 5B digital flight control computer and gyrodyne flywheels (taken from Almaz), Kurs automatic rendezvous system
, Luch satellite communications system, Elektron oxygen generators, and Vozdukh carbon dioxide scrubbers.
By early 1984, work on Mir had ground to a halt while all resources were being put into the Buran programme in order to prepare the Buran spacecraft for flight testing. Funding resumed in early 1984 when Valentin Glushko
was ordered by the Central Committee
's Secretary for Space and Defence to orbit Mir by early 1986, in time for the 27th Communist Party Congress
.
It was clear that the planned processing flow could not be followed and still meet the 1986 launch date. It was decided on Cosmonaut's Day
(12 April) 1985 to ship the flight model of the base block
to the Baikonur cosmodrome
and conduct the systems testing and integration there. The module arrived at the launch site on 6 May, with 1100 of 2500 cables requiring rework based on the results of tests to the ground test model at Khrunichev
. In October, the base block was rolled outside its cleanroom
to carry out communications tests. The first launch attempt on 16 February 1986 was scrubbed when the spacecraft communications failed, but the second launch attempt, on 19 February 1986 at 21:28:23 UTC, was successful, meeting the political deadline.
on a Proton-K
rocket. Four of the six modules which were later added (Kvant-2
, Kristall
, Spektr
and Priroda
) followed the same sequence to add themselves to the main Mir complex. Firstly, the module would be launched independently on its own Proton-K and chase the station automatically. It would then dock to the forward docking port on the core module's docking node, then extend its Lyappa arm
to mate with a fixture on the mode's exterior. The arm would then lift the module away from the forward docking port and rotate it on to the radial port that the module was to mate with, before lowering it down to dock. The node was equipped with only two Konus drogues, however, which were required for dockings. This meant that, prior to the arrival of each new module, the node would have to be depressurised to allow spacewalking cosmonauts to manually relocate the drogue to the next port to be occupied.
The other two expansion modules, Kvant-1
and the docking module
, followed different procedures. Kvant-1, having, unlike the four modules mentioned above, no engines of its own, was launched attached to a tug based on the TKS spacecraft
which delivered the module to the aft end of the core module instead of the docking node. Once hard docking had been achieved, the tug undocked and deorbited itself. The docking module, meanwhile, was launched aboard during STS-74
and mated to the orbiter's Orbiter Docking System. Atlantis then docked, via the module, to Kristall, then left the module behind when it undocked later in the mission. Various other external components, including three truss structures, several experiments and other unpressurised elements were also mounted to the exterior of the station by cosmonauts conducting a total of eighty spacewalks over the course of the station's history.
The station's assembly marked the beginning of the third generation of space station design, being the first to consist of more than one primary spacecraft (thus opening a new era in space architecture
). First generation stations such as Salyut 1
and Skylab
had monolithic designs, consisting of one module with no resupply capability, whilst the second generation stations Salyut 6
and Salyut 7
comprised a monolithic station with two ports to allow consumables to be replenished by cargo spacecraft such as Progress. The capability of Mir to be expanded with add-on modules meant that each could be designed with a specific purpose in mind (for instance, the core module functioned largely as living quarters), thus eliminating the need to install all the station's equipment in one module.
rockets or .
to hold large parabolic dishes away from the main station structure, was 5 metres long and used as a mounting point for externally mounted exposure experiments.
To assist in moving objects around the exterior of the station during EVAs
, Mir featured two Strela cargo cranes
mounted to the port and starboard sides of the core module and used for moving spacewalking cosmonauts and parts around the exterior of the station. The cranes consisted of telescopic poles assembled in sections which measured around 6 feet (1.8 m) when collapsed, but when extended using a hand crank were 46 feet (14 m) long, meaning that all of the station's modules could easily be accessed during spacewalks.
Each module was also fitted with a number of external components specific to the experiments that were carried out within that module, the most obvious being the Travers antenna mounted to Priroda. This synthetic aperture radar
consisted of a large dish-like framework mounted to the exterior of the module, with associated equipment within, used for Earth observations experiments, as was most of the other equipment on Priroda, including various radiometers and scan platforms. Kvant-2 also featured a number of scan platforms and was also fitted with a mounting bracket to which the cosmonaut manoeuvring unit, or Ikar, was mated. This backpack was designed to assist cosmonauts in moving around the station and the planned Buran in a manner similar to the U.S. Manned Maneuvering Unit
, but it was only used once, during EO-5
.
In addition to module-specific equipment, Kvant-2, Kristall, Spektr and Priroda were each equipped with one Lyappa arm
, a robotic arm which, after the module had docked to the core module's forward port, grappled one of two fixtures positioned on the core module's docking node. The arriving module's docking probe was then retracted, and the arm raised the module so that it could be pivoted 90° for docking to one of the four radial docking ports.
DC
supply which provided 5-, 10-, 20- and 50-amp
taps. When the station was illuminated by sunlight, several solar arrays mounted on the pressurised modules provided power to Mirs systems and charged the nickel-cadmium storage batteries
installed throughout the station. The arrays rotated in only one degree of freedom over a 180° arc, and tracked the sun using sun sensors and motors installed in the array mounts. The station itself also had to be oriented to ensure optimum illumination of the arrays. When the station's all-sky sensor detected that Mir had entered Earth's shadow, the arrays were rotated to the optimum angle predicted for reacquiring the sun once the station passed out of the shadow. The batteries, which each had a capacity of 60 Ah
, were then used to power the station until the arrays recovered their maximum output on the day side of Earth.
The solar arrays themselves were launched and installed over a period of eleven years, more slowly than originally planned, with the station continually suffering from a shortage of power as a result. The first two arrays, each 38 m2 (409 ft2) in area, were launched on the core module, and together provided a total of 9 kW of power. A third, dorsal
panel was launched on Kvant-1 and mounted on the core module in 1987, providing a further 2 kW over an area of 22 m2 (237 ft2). Kvant-2, launched in 1989, provided two 10 m (32.8 ft) long panels which supplied 3.5 kW each, whilst Kristall was launched with two collapsible, 15 m (49.2 ft) long arrays (providing 4 kW each) which were intended to be moved to Kvant-1 and installed on mounts which were attached during a spacewalk by the EO-8
crew in 1991.
This relocation was not begun, however, until 1995, when the panels were retracted and the left panel installed on Kvant-1. By this time all the arrays had degraded and were supplying much less power than they originally had. To rectify this, Spektr (launched in 1995), which had initially been designed to carry two arrays, was modified to hold four, providing a total of 126 m2 (1360 ft2) of array with a 16 kW supply. Two further arrays were flown to the station on board the during STS-74
, carried on the docking module. The first of these, the Mir cooperative solar array, consisted of American photovoltaic cells mounted on a Russian frame. It was installed on the unoccupied mount on Kvant-1 in May 1996 and was connected to the socket that had previously been occupied by the core module's dorsal panel, which was by this point barely supplying 1kW. The other panel, originally intended to be launched on Priroda, replaced the Kristall panel on Kvant-1 in November 1997, completing the station's electrical system.
The attitude (orientation) of the station was independently determined by a set of externally mounted sun, star and horizon sensors. Attitude information was conveyed between updates by rate sensors. Attitude control was maintained by a combination of two mechanisms; in order to hold a set attitude, a system of twelve control moment gyroscope
s (CMGs, or "gyrodynes") rotating at 10,000 rpm
kept the station oriented, six CMGs being located in each of the Kvant-1 and Kvant-2 modules. When the attitude of the station needed to be changed, the gyrodynes were disengaged, thrusters (including those mounted directly to the modules, and the VDU thruster used for roll control mounted to the Sofora girder) were used to attain the new attitude and the CMGs were reengaged. This was done fairly regularly depending on experimental needs; for instance, Earth or astronomical observations required that the instrument recording images be continuously aimed at the target, and so the station was oriented to make this possible. Conversely, materials processing experiments required the minimisation of movement on board the station, and so Mir would be oriented in a gravity gradient attitude for stability. Prior to the arrival of the modules containing these gyrodynes, the station's attitude was controlled using thrusters located on the core module alone, and, in an emergency, the thrusters on docked Soyuz spacecraft could be used to maintain the station's orientation.
provided telemetry
and scientific data links between Mir and the RKA Mission Control Centre (TsUP). Radio links were also used during rendezvous and docking procedures
and for audio and video communication between crew members, flight controllers and family members. As a result, Mir was equipped with a number of communication systems used for different purposes. The station communicated directly with the ground via the Lira
antenna
mounted to the core module
. The Lira antenna also had the capability to use the Luch data relay satellite system (which fell into disrepair in the 1990s) and the network of Soviet tracking ships deployed in various locations around the world (which also became unavailable in the 1990s). UHF radio
was used by cosmonauts conducting EVAs
. UHF was also employed by other spacecraft that docked to or undocked from the station, such as Soyuz, Progress, and the Space Shuttle, in order to receive commands from the TsUP and Mir crew members via the TORU
system.
, the onboard environment was not one of weightlessness or zero gravity. The environment was, however, often described as microgravity. This state of perceived weightlessness was not perfect, however, being disturbed by five separate effects:
' s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) provided or controlled atmospheric pressure
, fire detection, oxygen levels, waste management and water supply. The highest priority for the ECLSS was the station's atmosphere, but the system also collected, processed, and stored waste and water produced and used by the crew—a process that recycles fluid from the sink, toilet, and condensation from the air. The Elektron system generated oxygen on board the station. The crew had a backup option in the form of bottled oxygen and Solid Fuel Oxygen Generation
(SFOG) canisters, a system known as Vika. Carbon dioxide was removed from the air by the Vozdukh system. Other by-products of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, were removed by activated charcoal
filters. These systems are all now operational on the International Space Station
.
The atmosphere on board Mir was similar to Earth's. Normal air pressure on the station was 101.3 kPa (14.7 psi
); the same as at sea level on Earth. An Earth-like atmosphere offers benefits for crew comfort, and is much safer than the alternative, a pure oxygen atmosphere, because of the increased risk of a fire such as that responsible for the deaths of the Apollo 1
crew.
countries to participate in manned and unmanned space exploration missions. Participation was also made available to governments of sympathetic countries, such as France
and India
.
Only the last three of the programme's fourteen missions consisted of an expedition to Mir but none resulted in an extended stay in the station.
In the early 1980s, NASA planned to launch a modular space station called Freedom
as a counterpart to Mir, while the Soviets were planning to construct Mir-2
in the 1990s as a replacement for the station. Because of budget and design constraints, Freedom never progressed past mock-ups and minor component tests and, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Space Race
, the project was nearly cancelled entirely by the United States House of Representatives
. The post-Soviet economic chaos
in Russia also led to the cancellation of Mir-2, though only after its base block, DOS-8, had been constructed. Similar budgetary difficulties were faced by other nations with space station projects, which prompted the American government to negotiate with European states, Russia, Japan, and Canada in the early 1990s to begin a collaborative project. In June 1992, American president George H. W. Bush
and Russian president Boris Yeltsin
agreed to cooperate on space exploration
. The resulting Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes called for a short joint space programme with one American astronaut
deployed to the Russian space station Mir and two Russian cosmonauts deployed to a Space Shuttle.
In September 1993, U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Jr., and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
announced plans for a new space station, which eventually became the International Space Station
. They also agreed, in preparation of this new project, that the United States would be heavily involved in the Mir programme as part of an international project known as the Shuttle–Mir programme. The project, sometimes called "Phase One", was intended to allow the United States to learn from Russian experience in long-duration spaceflight and to foster a spirit of cooperation between the two nations and their space agencies, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency
(Roskosmos). The project helped to prepare the way for further cooperative space ventures, specifically, "Phase Two" of the joint project, the construction of the International Space Station
(ISS). The programme was announced in 1993; the first mission started in 1994, and the project continued until its scheduled completion in 1998. Eleven Space Shuttle missions, a joint Soyuz flight, and almost 1000 cumulative days in space for U.S. astronauts occurred over the course of seven long-duration expeditions.
Mir resembled 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 crew members, but was capable of supporting as many as six for up to a month. The station was designed to remain in orbit for around five years, but ended up remaining in orbit for fifteen. As a result, NASA astronaut John Blaha reported that, with the exception of Priroda
and Spektr
, which were added later into the station's life, Mir did look used, which is to be expected given it had been lived in for ten to eleven years without being brought home and cleaned.
(UTC+03). The windows were covered during night hours to give the impression of darkness because the station experienced 16 sunrises and sunsets a day. A typical day for the crew began with a wake-up at 08:00, followed by two hours of personal hygiene and breakfast. Work was conducted from 10:00 until 13:00, followed by an hour of exercise and an hour's lunch break. Three more hours of work and another hour of exercise followed lunch, and the crews began preparing for their evening meal at about 19:00. The cosmonauts were free to do as they wished in the evening, and largely worked to their own pace during the day.
In their spare time, crews were able to catch up with work, observe the Earth below, respond to letters, drawings and other items sent up from Earth (and give them an official stamp to show they had been aboard Mir), or make use of the station's ham radio. Two amateur radio call signs, U1MIR and U2MIR, were assigned to Mir in the late 1980s, allowing amateur radio operators on Earth to communicate with the cosmonauts. The station was also equipped with a large supply of books and films for the crew to read and watch.
NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger related how life on board Mir was structured and lived according to the detailed itineraries provided by ground control. Every second on board was accounted for and all activities were timetabled. After working some time on Mir, Linenger came to feel that the order in which his activities were allocated did not represent the most logical or efficient order possible for these activities. He decided to perform his tasks in an order that he felt enabled him to work more efficiently, be less fatigued, and suffer less from stress. Linenger noted that his comrades on Mir did not "improvise" in this way, and as a medical doctor he observed the effects of stress on his comrades that he believed was the outcome of following an itinerary without making modifications to it. Despite this, however, he commented that his comrades performed all their tasks in a supremely professional manner.
Astronaut Shannon Lucid
, who set the record for longest stay in space by a woman while aboard Mir (surpassed by Sunita Williams
11 years later on the ISS
), also commented about working aboard Mir saying "I think going to work on a daily basis on Mir is very similar to going to work on a daily basis on an outstation in Antarctica. The big difference with going to work here is the isolation, because you really are isolated. You don't have a lot of support from the ground. You really are on your own."
and deterioration of the skeleton
, or spaceflight osteopenia
. Other significant effects include fluid redistribution, a slowing of the cardiovascular system, decreased production of red blood cell
s, balance disorders, and a weakening of the immune system
. Lesser symptoms include loss of body mass, nasal congestion, sleep disturbance, excess flatulence
, and puffiness of the face. These effects begin to reverse quickly upon return to the Earth.
To prevent some of these adverse physiological effects, the station was equipped with two treadmill
s (in the core module and Kvant-2) and a stationary bicycle (in the core module); each cosmonaut was to cycle the equivalent of 10 km and run the equivalent of 5 per day. Cosmonauts used bungee cords to strap themselves to the treadmill. Researchers believe that exercise is a good countermeasure for the bone and muscle density loss that occurs when humans live for a long time without gravity.
s (ASUs) on Mir, located in the core module
and Kvant-2
. These units used a fan-driven suction system similar to the Space Shuttle Waste Collection System. Cosmonauts first fastened themselves to the toilet seat, which was equipped with spring-loaded restraining bars to ensure a good seal. A lever operated a powerful fan and a suction hole slid open: the air stream carried the waste away. Solid waste was collected in individual bags which were stored in an aluminium container. Full containers were transferred to Progress spacecraft for disposal. Liquid waste was evacuated by a hose connected to the front of the toilet, with anatomically correct "urine funnel adapters" attached to the tube so both men and women could use the same toilet. Waste was collected and transferred to the Water Recovery System, where it was recycled back into drinking water, although this was usually used to produce oxygen via the Elektron system.
Mir featured a shower, referred to as Bania, which was located in Kvant-2. The unit was a major improvement on the units installed in previous Salyut stations, but proved difficult to use due to the amount of time required to set up, use, and pack it away. The shower, which featured a plastic curtain and fan to collect water via an airflow, was later converted into a steam room, eventually having its plumbing removed and the space was reused. When the shower was unavailable, crew members washed using wet wipes, with soap dispensed from a toothpaste tube-like container, or using a washbasin equipped with a plastic hood, located in the core module. Crews were also provided with rinse-less shampoo and edible toothpaste to save water.
until a collision with a Progress spacecraft caused the depressurization of that module. It was important that crew accommodations be well ventilated; otherwise, astronauts could wake up oxygen-deprived and gasping for air, because a bubble of their own exhaled carbon dioxide had formed around their heads.
, before their flight to the station. The diet was designed to provide around 100 g of protein
, 130 g of fat
and 330 g of carbohydrate
s per day, in addition to appropriate mineral and vitamin supplements. Meals were spread out throughout the day to aid assimilation. Canned food such as jellied beef tongue was placed into one of several niches in the core module's table, where they could be warmed in 5-10 minutes. Usually, crews drank tea, coffee and fruit juices, but, unlike the ISS, the station also had a supply of cognac and vodka
for special occasions.
.
on a dual mission to both Mir and Salyut 7
.
Leonid Kizim
and Vladimir Solovyov first docked with the Mir space station on 15 March 1986. During their nearly 51-day stay on Mir, they brought the station online and checked its systems. They also unloaded two Progress spacecraft
launched after their arrival, Progress 25 and Progress 26.
On 5 May 1986, they undocked from Mir for a day-long journey to Salyut 7. They spent 51 days there and gathered 400 kg of scientific material from Salyut 7 for return to Mir. While Soyuz T-15 was at Salyut 7, the unmanned Soyuz TM-1
arrived at the unoccupied Mir and remained for 9 days, testing the new Soyuz TM model. Soyuz T-15 redocked with Mir on 26 June and delivered the experiments and 20 instruments, including a multichannel spectrometer
. The EO-1 crew spent their last 20 days on Mir conducting Earth observations before returning to Earth on 16 July 1986, leaving the new station unoccupied.
The second expedition to Mir, EO-2
, launched on Soyuz TM-2
on 5 February 1987. During their stay, the Kvant-1
module, launched on 30 March 1987, arrived. It was the first experimental version of a planned series of '37K' modules scheduled to be launched to Mir on the Soviet Buran spacecraft. Kvant-1 was originally planned to dock with Salyut 7
; however, due to technical problems during its development, it was reassigned to Mir. The module carried the first set of six gyroscopes for attitude control. The module also carried instruments for X-ray and ultraviolet astrophysical observations.
The initial rendezvous of the Kvant-1 module with Mir on 5 April 1987 was troubled by the failure of the onboard control system. After the failure of the second attempt to dock, the resident cosmonauts, Yuri Romanenko
and Aleksandr Laveykin
, conducted an EVA to fix the problem. They found a trash bag which had been left in orbit after the departure of one of the previous cargo ships and was now located between the module and the station, which prevented the docking. After removing the bag docking could be completed on 12 April.
The Soyuz TM-2 launch was the beginning of a string of 6 Soyuz launches and three long-duration crews between 5 February 1987 and 27 April 1989. This period also saw the first international visitors to the station, Muhammed Faris
(Syria
), Abdul Ahad Mohmand
(Afghanistan
) and Jean-Loup Chrétien
(France
). With the departure of EO-4
on Soyuz TM-7
on 27 April 1989 the station was once again left unoccupied.
on 5 September 1989 marked the beginning of the longest human presence in space up until 23 October 2010 (when this record was surpassed by the ISS). It also marked the beginning of Mir's second expansion. The Kvant-2
and Kristall
modules were now ready for launch. Alexander Viktorenko
and Aleksandr Serebrov
docked with Mir and brought the station out of its five-month hibernation. On 29 September the cosmonauts installed equipment in the docking system in preparation for the arrival of Kvant-2, the first of the 20 tonne
add-on modules based on the TKS spacecraft
from the Almaz
programme.
After a delay of 40 days due to problems with a batch of computer chips, Kvant-2 was launched on 26 November 1989. After problems deploying the craft's solar array and with the automated docking systems on both Kvant-2 and Mir, the new module was docked manually on 6 December. Kvant-2 added a second set of gyrodines to Mir, and also carried the new life support systems for recycling water and generating oxygen on board the station, reducing its dependence on resupply from the ground. The module also featured a large airlock with a one-metre hatch. A special backpack unit (known as Ikar), an equivalent of the U.S. MMU
, was located inside Kvant-2's airlock.
Soyuz TM-9
launched EO-6
crew members Anatoly Solovyev
and Aleksandr Balandin on 11 February 1990. While docking, the EO-5 crew on board Mir noted that three thermal blankets on the ferry were loose, potentially creating problems on reentry, but it was decided that they would be manageable. Their stay on board Mir saw the addition of the Kristall module, launched on 31 May 1990. The first docking attempt on 6 June was aborted due to an attitude control thruster failure. Kristall arrived at Mir’s front port on 10 June and was relocated to the lateral port opposite Kvant-2 the next day, restoring the equilibrium of the complex. Due to the delay in the docking of Kristall, EO-6 was extended by 10 days to permit the activation of the module’s systems and to accommodate the EVA to repair the loose thermal blankets on Soyuz TM-9.
Kristall contained a number of furnaces for use in producing crystals under microgravity conditions (hence the choice of name for the module). The module was also equipped with biotechnology research equipment, including a small greenhouse for plant cultivation experiments which was equipped with a source of light and a feeding system, in addition to equipment for astronomical observations. The most obvious features of the module, however, were the two Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
(APAS-89) docking ports designed to be compatible with the Buran spacecraft. Although they were never used in a Buran docking, they were later to prove very useful during the Shuttle-Mir programme, providing a berthing location for U.S Space Shuttle
s.
The EO-7
relief crew arrived aboard Soyuz TM-10
on 3 August 1990. The new crew arrived at Mir with quail
for Kvant-2's cages, one of which laid an egg en-route to the station. It was returned to Earth, along with 130 kg of experiment results and industrial products, in Soyuz TM-9. Two more expeditions, EO-8 and EO-9, continued the work of their predecessors whilst tensions grew back on Earth.
on 2 October 1991, was the last crew to launch from the USSR and continued the occupation of Mir through the fall of the Soviet Union
. The crew is notable for having launched as Soviet citizens and returning to earth as Russians. The newly formed Russian Federal Space Agency
(Roskosmos) was unable to finance the unlaunched Spektr
and Priroda
modules, instead putting them into storage and ending Mir's second expansion.
The first manned mission flown from an independent Kazakhstan
was Soyuz TM-14
, launched on 17 March 1992, which carried the EO-11 crew to Mir, docking on 19 March before the departure of Soyuz TM-13. On 17 June, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
and U.S. President George H. W. Bush
announced what would later become the Shuttle-Mir programme, a cooperative venture which would prove very useful to the cash-strapped Roskosmos (and led to the eventual completion and launch of Spektr and Priroda). EO-12 followed in July, alongside a brief visit by French astronaut Michel Tognini
. The crew which succeeded them, EO-13, began preparations for the Shuttle-Mir programme by flying to the station in a modified spacecraft, Soyuz TM-16
(launched on 26 January 1993), which was equipped with an APAS-89 docking system rather than the usual probe-and-drogue, enabling it to dock to Kristall and test the port which would later be used by U.S. space shuttles. The spacecraft also enabled controllers to obtain data on the dynamics of docking a spacecraft to a space station off the station's longitudinal axis, in addition to data on the structural integrity of this configuration via a test called Rezonans conducted on 28 January. Soyuz TM-15
, meanwhile, departed with the EO-12 crew on 1 February.
Throughout the period following the collapse of the USSR, crews on Mir experienced occasional reminders of the economic chaos occurring in Russia. The initial cancellation of Spektr and Priroda was the first such sign, closely followed by the reduction in communications as a result of the fleet of tracking ships being withdrawn from service by Ukraine
. The new Ukrainian government also vastly raised the price of the Kurs
docking systems, manufactured in Kiev
the Russians' attempts to reduce their dependence on Kurs would later lead to accidents during TORU tests in 1997. Various Progress spacecraft had parts of their cargoes missing, either because the consumable in question had been unavailable, or because the ground crews at Baikonur had, in desperation, looted them. The problems became particularly obvious during the launch of the EO-14 crew aboard Soyuz TM-17
in July; half an hour before launch there was a black-out at the pad, and the entire power supply to the nearby city of Leninsk
failed an hour after launch. Nevertheless, the spacecraft launched on time and arrived at the station two days later. All of Mir' s ports, however, were occupied, and so Soyuz TM-17 had to station-keep 200 metres away from the station for half an hour before docking whilst Progress M-18
vacated the core module's front port and departed.
The EO-13 crew departed on 22 July, and soon after Mir passed through the annual Perseid
meteor shower
, during which the station was hit by several particles. A spacewalk was conducted on 28 September to inspect the station's hull, but no serious damage was reported. Soyuz TM-18
arrived on 10 January 1994 carrying the EO-15 crew (including Valeri Polyakov, who was to remain on Mir for 14 months), and Soyuz TM-17
left on 14 January. The undocking was unusual, however, in that the spacecraft was to pass along Kristall in order to obtain photographs of the APAS to assist in the training of space shuttle pilots. Due to an error in setting up the control system, the spacecraft struck the station a glancing blow during the manoeuvre, scratching the exterior of Kristall.
The launch of Soyuz TM-19
, carrying the EO-16 crew, was delayed due to the unavailability of a payload fairing for the booster that was to carry it, but the spacecraft eventually left Earth on 1 July 1994 and docked two days later. They stayed only four months to allow the Soyuz schedule to line up with the planned space shuttle manifest, and so Polyakov greeted a second resident crew in October, prior to the undocking of Soyuz TM-19, when the EO-17 crew arrived in Soyuz TM-20
. A few months later, Mir veteran Vladimir Titov
became the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a U.S. spacecraft flying on during STS-63.
The February 3 launch of , flying STS-63, opened operations on Mir for 1995. Referred to as the "near-Mir" mission, the mission saw the first rendezvous of a space shuttle with Mir as the orbiter approached within 37 feet (11.3 m) of the station as a dress rehearsal for later docking missions and for equipment testing. Five weeks after Discoverys departure, the EO-18 crew, including the first U.S. cosmonaut Norman Thagard
, arrived in Soyuz TM-21
. The EO-17 crew left a few days later, with Polyakov completing his record-breaking 437-day spaceflight. During EO-18, the Spektr
science module (which served as living and working space for American astronauts) was launched aboard a Proton rocket
and docked to the station, carrying research equipment from America and other nations. The expedition's crew returned to Earth aboard following the first Shuttle–Mir docking mission, STS-71
. Atlantis, launched on 27 June 1995, successfully docked with Mir on 29 June becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to dock with a Russian spacecraft since the ASTP
in 1975. The orbiter delivered the EO-19
crew and returned the EO-18 crew to Earth. The EO-20 crew were launched on 3 September, followed in November by the arrival of the docking module during STS-74
.
The two-man EO-21
crew was launched on 21 February 1996 aboard Soyuz TM-23
and were soon joined by U.S. crew member Shannon Lucid
, who was brought to the station by Atlantis during STS-76
. This mission saw the first joint U.S. spacewalk on Mir take place deploying the MEEP
package on the docking module. Lucid became the first American to carry out a long-duration mission aboard Mir with her 188-day mission, which set the U.S. single spaceflight record. During Lucid's time aboard Mir, Priroda
, the station's final module, arrived as did French visitor Claudie Haigneré
flying the Cassiopée mission. The flight aboard Soyuz TM-24
also delivered the EO-22 crew of Valery Korzun
and Aleksandr Kaleri.
Lucid's stay aboard Mir ended with the flight of Atlantis on STS-79
, which launched on September 16. This, the fourth docking, saw John Blaha transferring onto Mir to take his place as resident U.S. astronaut. His stay on the station improved operations in several areas, including transfer procedures for a docked space shuttle, "hand-over" procedures for long duration American crew members and "ham" amateur radio
communications, and also saw two spacewalks to reconfigure the station's power grid. In all, Blaha spent four months with the EO-22 crew before returning to Earth aboard Atlantis on STS-81
in January 1997, at which point he was replaced by physician
Jerry Linenger. During his flight, Linenger became the first American to conduct a spacewalk from a foreign space station and the first to test the Russian-built Orlan-M spacesuit alongside Russian cosmonaut Vasili Tsibliyev
, flying EO-23. All three crew members of EO-23 performed a "fly-around" in Soyuz TM-25
spacecraft. Linenger and his Russian crewmates Vasili Tsibliyev and Aleksandr Lazutkin
faced several difficulties during the mission, including the most severe fire aboard an orbiting spacecraft (caused by a malfunctioning Vika), failures of various on board systems, a near collision with Progress M-33 during a long-distance TORU test and a total loss of station electrical power. The power failure also caused a loss of attitude control, which led to an uncontrolled "tumble" through space.
Linenger was succeeded by Anglo-American astronaut Michael Foale
, carried up by Atlantis on STS-84
, alongside Russian mission specialist Elena Kondakova. Foale's increment proceeded fairly normally until 25 June when during the second test of the Progress manual docking system, TORU
, Progress M-34 collided with solar arrays on the Spektr
module and crashed into the module's outer shell, puncturing the module and causing depressurisation on the station. Only quick actions on the part of the crew, cutting cables leading to the module and closing Spektr's hatch, prevented the crew's having to abandon the station in Soyuz TM-25
. Their efforts stabilised the station's air pressure, whilst the pressure in Spektr, containing many of Foale's experiments and personal effects, dropped to a vacuum. In an effort to restore some of the power and systems lost following the isolation of Spektr and to attempt to locate the leak, EO-24
commander Anatoly Solovyev
and flight engineer
Pavel Vinogradov carried out a risky salvage operation later in the flight, entering the empty module during a so-called "intra-vehicular activity" or "IVA" spacewalk and inspecting the condition of hardware and running cables through a special hatch from Spektr's systems to the rest of the station. Following these first investigations, Foale and Solovyev conducted a 6-hour EVA on the surface of Spektr to inspect the damage to the punctured module.
After these incidents, the U.S. Congress and NASA considered whether to abandon the programme out of concern for the astronauts' safety, but NASA administrator Daniel Goldin
decided to continue the programme. The next flight to Mir, STS-86
, brought David Wolf to the station aboard Atlantis. During the orbiter's stay Titov and Parazynski conducted a spacewalk to affix a cap to the docking module for a future attempt by crew members to seal off the leak in Spektr' s hull. Wolf spent 119 days aboard Mir with the EO-24 crew and was replaced during STS-89
with Andy Thomas
, who carried out the last U.S. expedition on Mir. The EO-25 crew arrived in Soyuz TM-27
in January 1998 before Thomas returned to Earth on the final Shuttle–Mir mission, STS-91
.
Following the departure of Discovery on 8 June 1998, the EO-25 crew of Budarin
and Musabayev
were left aboard the station, carrying out materials experiments and the compiling of a station inventory. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Yuri Koptev, the director of the Roskosmos
, announced on 2 July that, due to a lack of funding to keep Mir flying, the station would be deorbited in June 1999. The EO-26 crew of Gennady Padalka
and Sergei Avdeyev
arrived on 15 August in Soyuz TM-28
, alongside physicist Yuri Baturin
, who departed with the EO-25 crew on 25 August in Soyuz TM-27
. The crew carried out two spacewalks, one inside Spektr to reseat some power cables and another outside to set up experiments delivered by Progress M-40, which also carried a large amount of propellant to begin alterations to Mir' s orbit ready for the station's decommissioning. 20 November 1998 saw the launch of Zarya
, the first module of the International Space Station
, but delays to the new station's service module Zvezda had led to calls for Mir to be kept in orbit past 1999. Roskosmos, however, confirmed that it would not fund Mir past the set deorbit date.
The crew of EO-27, consisting of Viktor Afanasyev and Jean-Pierre Haigneré
arrived in Soyuz TM-29
on 22 February 1999 alongside Ivan Bella
, who returned to Earth with Padalka in Soyuz TM-28. The crew carried out three EVAs to retrieve experiments and deploy a prototype communications antenna on Sofora. Meanwhile, on 1 June it was announced that the deorbit of the station would be delayed by six months to allow time to seek alternative funding to keep the station operating. The rest of the expedition was spent preparing the station for its deorbit; a special analogue computer was installed and each of the modules, starting with the docking module, was mothballed in turn and sealed off. The crew loaded their results into Soyuz TM-29 and departed Mir on 28 August 1999, ending a run of continuous occupation of the station which had lasted for eight days short of ten years. The station's gyrodynes and main computer were shut down on 7 September, leaving Progress M-42 to control Mir and refine the station's orbital decay rate.
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
. The privately funded Soyuz TM-30
mission by MirCorp
, launched on 4 April 2000, carried two crew members, Sergei Zalyotin
and Aleksandr Kaleri, to the station for two months to do repair work with the hope of proving that the station could be made safe. This was, however, to be the last manned mission to Mir - while Russia was optimistic about Mirs future, its commitments to the International Space Station
project left no funding to support the aging station.
Mir' s deorbit was carried out in three stages. The first stage involved waiting for atmospheric drag
to reduce the station's orbit
to an average of 220 kilometres (136.7 mi). This began with the docking of Progress M1-5
, a modified version of the Progress-M
carrying 2.5 times more fuel in place of supplies. The second stage was the transfer of the station into a 165 × 220 km (103 × 137 mi) orbit. This was achieved with two burns of Progress M1-5's control engines at 00:32 UTC and 02:01 UTC on 23 March 2001. After a two-orbit pause, the third and final stage of Mirs deorbit began with the burn of Progress M1-5's control engines and main engine at 05:08 UTC, lasting a little over 22 minutes. Reentry
into Earth's atmosphere
(100 km/60 mi AMSL) of the 15-year-old space station occurred at 05:44 UTC near Nadi
, Fiji
. Major destruction of the station began around 05:52 UTC and the unburned fragments fell into the South Pacific Ocean
around 06:00 UTC.
Mir was primarily supported by the Russian Soyuz
and Progress spacecraft
and had two ports available for docking these spacecraft. Initially, the fore and aft ports of the core module could be used for dockings, but following the permanent berthing of Kvant-1 to the aft port in 1987, the rear port of the new module took on this role from the core module's aft port. Each port was equipped with the plumbing required for Progress cargo ferries to replace the station's fluids and also the guidance systems needed to guide the spacecraft in for docking. Two such systems were used on Mir; the rear ports of both the core module and Kvant-1 were equipped with both the Igla
and Kurs
systems, whilst the core module's forward port featured only the newer Kurs.
Soyuz spacecraft provided manned access to and from the station allowing for crew rotations and cargo return, and also functioned as a lifeboat for the station, allowing for a relatively quick return to Earth in the event of an emergency. Two models of Soyuz flew to Mir; Soyuz T-15
was the first and only Igla-equipped Soyuz-T
to visit the station, whilst all other flights used the newer, Kurs-equipped Soyuz-TM
. A total of 31 (30 manned, 1 unmanned
) Soyuz spacecraft flew to the station over a fourteen year period.
The unmanned Progress cargo vehicles were only used to resupply the station, carrying a variety of cargoes including water, fuel, food and experimental equipment. The spacecraft were not equipped with reentry shielding and so, unlike their Soyuz counterparts, were incapable of surviving reentry. As a result, when its cargoes had been unloaded, each Progress was refilled with rubbish, spent equipment and other waste which was destroyed, along with the Progress itself, on reentry. However, in order to facilitate cargo return, ten Progress flights carried Raduga
capsules, which could return around 150 kg of experimental results to Earth automatically. Mir was visited by three separate models of Progress; the original 7K-TG
variant equipped with Igla (18 flights), the Progress-M
model equipped with Kurs (43 flights), and the modified Progress-M1
version (3 flights), which together flew a total of sixty-four resupply missions to the station. Whilst the vast majority of the Progress spacecraft docked automatically without incident, the station was equipped with a remote manual docking system, TORU
, in case problems were encountered during the automatic approaches. With TORU cosmonauts could guide the spacecraft safely in to dock (with the exception of the catastrophic docking of Progress M-34, when the long-range use of the system resulted in the spacecraft's striking the station, damaging Spektr and causing decompression).
In addition to the routine Soyuz and Progress flights, it was anticipated that Mir would also be the destination for flights by the Soviet Buran space shuttle, which was intended to deliver extra modules (based on the same "37K" bus
as Kvant-1) and provide a much improved cargo return service to the station. Kristall
carried two Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
(APAS-89) docking ports designed to be compatible with the shuttle. One of these ports was to be used for Buran dockings with the other providing a berthing location for the planned Pulsar X-2 telescope, also to be delivered by Buran. The cancellation of the Buran programme, however, meant these capabilities were not realised until the 1990s when the ports were used instead by U.S. Space Shuttle
s as part of the Shuttle-Mir programme (after testing by the specially modified Soyuz TM-16
in 1993). Initially, visiting orbiters
docked directly to Kristall, but this required the relocation of the module to ensure sufficient distance between the shuttle and Mir' s solar arrays. In order to eliminate the need to move the module and retract solar arrays for clearance issues, a docking module
was later added to the end of Kristall. The shuttles provided crew rotation of the American astronauts on station and carried cargo to and from the station, performing some of the largest transfers of cargo of the time. With a space shuttle docked to Mir, the temporary enlargements of living and working areas amounted to a complex that was the largest spacecraft
in history at that time, with a combined mass of 250 tonne.
in Korolyov
, near the RKK Energia plant. Referred to by its acronym ЦУП ("TsUP"), or simply as 'Moscow', the facility could process data from up to ten spacecraft in three separate control rooms, although each control room was dedicated to a single programme; one to Mir; one to Soyuz; and one to the Soviet space shuttle Buran (which was later converted for use with the ISS). The facility is now used to control the Russian Orbital Segment
of the ISS. The flight control team were assigned roles similar to the system used by NASA at their mission control centre in Houston, including:
, making it unpleasant to breathe the air on board. He says that it was especially noticeable after he had made a spacewalk and become used to the clean air he had been breathing in his spacesuit. When he returned to the station and again began breathing the air inside Mir, he was deeply shocked by the intensity of the chemical smell and very worried about the possible negative health effects of breathing such heavily contaminated air.
Various breakdowns of Mirs Elektron oxygen-generating system were also a concern. These breakdowns led crews to become increasingly reliant on the backup Vika solid-fuel oxygen generator
(SFOG) systems, responsible for the fire during the handover between EO-22 and EO-23.
During the operation of Mir, a number of accidents occurred which threatened the safety of the station, such as the glancing collision between Kristall
and Soyuz TM-17
during proximity operations in January 1994. The three most alarming incidents, however, occurred during EO-23. The first of these, on 23 February 1997 during the handover period from EO-22 to EO-23, followed a malfunction in one of the station's backup Vika solid-fuel oxygen generator
(SFOG) systems. The Vika malfunction led to a fire which burned for around 90 seconds (according to official sources at the TsUP; astronaut Jerry Linenger
, however, insists the fire burned for around 14 minutes), and produced large amounts of toxic smoke that filled the station for around 45 minutes. This forced the crew to don respirators, but some of the respirator masks initially worn were broken. Some of the fire extinguisher
s mounted on the walls of the newer modules were immovable.
The other two accidents which occurred during EO-23 concerned testing of the station's TORU
manual docking system to manually dock Progress M-33 and Progress M-34. The tests were called in order to gauge the performance of long-distance docking in order to enable the cash-strapped Russians to remove the expensive Kurs
automatic docking system from Progress spacecraft. However, for reasons which were never fully understood, both tests failed, with Progress M-33 narrowly missing the station and Progress M-34 striking Spektr
and puncturing the module, causing the station to depressurise and leading to Spektr being permanently sealed off. This in turn led to a power crisis aboard Mir as the module's solar arrays produced a large proportion of the station's electrical supply, causing the station to power down and begin to drift, requiring weeks of work to rectify before work could continue as normal.
from a steady flux of cosmic ray
s and trapped protons from the South Atlantic Anomaly
. The station's crews were exposed to an absorbed dose
of about 5.2 cGy
over the course of a 115-day expedition, producing an equivalent dose
of 14.75 cSv
, or 1133 µSv per day. This is approximately half of that received from natural background radiation
on Earth in a year. The radiation environment of the station was not uniform, however; closer proximity to the station's hull led to an increased radiation dose, and the strength of radiation shielding varied between modules; Kvant-2's being better than the core module, for instance.
The increased radiation levels result in a higher risk of crews developing cancer, and can cause damage to the chromosomes of lymphocytes. These cells are central to the immune system
and so any damage to them could contribute to the lowered immunity
experienced by cosmonauts. Over time, lowered immunity results in the spread of infection between crew members, especially in such confined areas. Radiation has also been linked to a higher incidence of cataracts in cosmonauts. Protective shielding and protective drugs may lower the risks to an acceptable level, but data is scarce and longer-term exposure will result in greater risks.
At the low altitudes at which Mir orbited there is a variety of space debris
, consisting of everything from entire spent rocket stages and defunct satellite
s, to explosion fragments, paint flakes, slag from solid rocket motors, coolant released by RORSAT
nuclear powered satellites, small needles
, and many other objects. These objects, in addition to natural micrometeoroid
s, posed a threat to the station as they have the ability to puncture pressurised modules and cause damage to other parts of the station, such as the solar arrays. Micrometeoroids also posed a risk to spacewalking
cosmonauts, as such objects could puncture their spacesuits
, causing them to depressurise. Meteor showers in particular posed a significant risk to the station, and, during such storms, the crews slept in their Soyuz ferries to facilitate an emergency evacuation should Mir be damaged.
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
operated in low Earth orbit
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and then by Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the largest artificial satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
orbiting the Earth until its deorbit on 21 March 2001 (a record now surpassed by the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
). Mir served as a microgravity research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
laboratory
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
in which crews conducted experiment
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
s in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, human biology
Human biology
Human Biology is an interdisciplinary area of study that examines humans through the influences and interplay of many diverse fields such as genetics, evolution, physiology, epidemiology, ecology, nutrition, population genetics and sociocultural influences. It is closely related to...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
and spacecraft systems in order to develop technologies required for the permanent occupation of space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
.
The station was the first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space and was operated by a series of long-duration crews. The Mir programme held the record for the longest uninterrupted human presence in space, at 3,644 days, until 23 October 2010 (when it was surpassed by the ISS), and it currently holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, of Valeri Polyakov, at 437 days 18 hours. Mir was occupied for a total of twelve and a half years of its fifteen-year lifespan, having the capacity to support a resident crew of three, and larger crews for short-term visits.
Following the success of the Salyut programme, Mir represented the next stage in the Soviet Union's space station programme. The first module of the station, known as the core module
Mir Core Module
Mir , DOS-7, was the first module of the Soviet/Russian Mir space station complex, in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Generally referred to as either the core module or base block, the module was launched on 20 February 1986 on a Proton-K rocket from LC-200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome...
or base block, was launched in 1986, and was followed by six further modules, all launched by Proton rockets (with the exception of the docking module
Mir Docking Module
The Stykovochnyy Otsek , GRAU index 316GK, otherwise known as the Mir docking module or SO, was the sixth module of the Russian space station Mir, launched in November 1995 aboard the...
). When complete, the station consisted of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components. Power was provided by several photovoltaic arrays mounted directly on the modules. The station was maintained at an orbit between 296 km (184 mi) and 421 km (262 mi) altitude and traveled at an average speed of 27,700 km/h (17,200 mph), completing 15.7 orbits per day.
The station was originally launched as part of the Soviet Union's manned spaceflight programme
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...
effort to maintain a long-term research outpost in space, and, following the collapse of the USSR, was operated by the new Russian Federal Space Agency
Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located...
(RKA). As a result, the vast majority of the station's crew were Soviet or Russian; however, through international collaborations, including the Intercosmos
Intercosmos
Interkosmos was a space program of the Soviet Union designed to include members of military forces of allied Warsaw Pact countries in manned and unmanned missions...
, Euromir and Shuttle-Mir
Shuttle-Mir Program
The Shuttle–Mir Program was a collaborative space program between Russia and the United States, which involved American Space Shuttles visiting the Russian space station Mir, Russian cosmonauts flying on the shuttle and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to engage in...
programmes, the station was made accessible to astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s from North America, several European nations and Japan. The cost of the Mir programme was estimated by former RKA General Director Yuri Koptev
Yuri Koptev
Yuri Nikolayevich Koptev is a former General Director of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, serving in that role from 1992 to 2004.Beginning in 1965, he worked as an engineer at NPO Lavochkin....
in 2001 as $4.2 billion over its lifetime (including development, assembly and orbital operation). The station was serviced by Soyuz spacecraft, Progress spacecraft and U.S. space shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
s, and was visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 12 different nations.
Origins
Mir was authorised in a decree made on 17 February 1976 to design an improved model of the Salyut DOS-17K space stations. Four Salyut space stations had already been launched since 1971, with three more being launched during Mirs development. It was planned that the station's core module (DOS-7Mir Core Module
Mir , DOS-7, was the first module of the Soviet/Russian Mir space station complex, in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Generally referred to as either the core module or base block, the module was launched on 20 February 1986 on a Proton-K rocket from LC-200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome...
and the backup DOS-8) would be equipped with a total of four docking ports; two at either end of the station as with the Salyut stations, and an additional two ports on either side of a docking sphere at the front of the station to enable further modules to expand the station's capabilities. By August 1978, this had evolved to the final configuration of one aft port and five ports in a spherical compartment at the forward end of the station.
It was originally planned that the ports would connect to 7.5 tonne modules derived from the Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
. These modules would have used a Soyuz propulsion module, as in Soyuz and Progress
Progress spacecraft
The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is...
, and the descent and orbital modules would have been replaced with a long laboratory module. However, following a February 1979 governmental resolution, the programme was consolidated with Vladimir Chelomei
Vladimir Chelomei
Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey was a Soviet mechanics scientist and rocket engineer from Ukraine.-Early life:Chelomey was born in Siedlce, Russian Empire into a Ukrainian family...
's manned Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....
military space station programme. The docking ports were reinforced to accommodate 20 tonne (22 short tons) space station modules based on the TKS spacecraft
TKS spacecraft
TKS spacecraft was a Soviet spacecraft design in the late 1960s intended to supply the military Almaz space station. The spacecraft was designed for manned or autonomous cargo resupply use...
. NPO Energia
S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia
OAO S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia , also known as RKK Energiya, is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components...
was responsible for the overall space station, with work subcontracted to KB Salyut, due to ongoing work on the Energia
Energia
Energia was a Soviet rocket that was designed by NPO Energia to serve as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as well as a booster for the Buran spacecraft. Control system main developer enterprise was the NPO "Electropribor"...
rocket
Launch vehicle
In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad and other infrastructure....
and Salyut 7
Salyut 7
Salyut 7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first manned in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including a total of 12 manned and 15 unmanned launches...
, Soyuz-T, and Progress
Progress spacecraft
The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is...
spacecraft. KB Salyut began work in 1979, and drawings were released in 1982 and 1983. New systems incorporated into the station included the Salyut 5B digital flight control computer and gyrodyne flywheels (taken from Almaz), Kurs automatic rendezvous system
Kurs (docking system)
Kurs is a radio telemetry system used by the Soviet and later Russian space program.Kurs was developed by the Research Institute of Precision Instruments before 1985 and manufactured by the Kiev Radio Factory .- History :...
, Luch satellite communications system, Elektron oxygen generators, and Vozdukh carbon dioxide scrubbers.
By early 1984, work on Mir had ground to a halt while all resources were being put into the Buran programme in order to prepare the Buran spacecraft for flight testing. Funding resumed in early 1984 when Valentin Glushko
Valentin Glushko
Valentin Petrovich Glushko or Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko was a Soviet engineer, and the principal Soviet designer of rocket engines during the Soviet/American Space Race.-Biography:...
was ordered by the Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
's Secretary for Space and Defence to orbit Mir by early 1986, in time for the 27th Communist Party Congress
27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
27th Congress of the CPSU was held in Moscow. It was held after the deaths of Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. Mikhail Gorbachev was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU...
.
It was clear that the planned processing flow could not be followed and still meet the 1986 launch date. It was decided on Cosmonaut's Day
Cosmonautics Day
Cosmonautics Day is a holiday celebrated in Russia and some other former USSR countries on April 12. This holiday celebrates the first manned space flight made on April 12, 1961 by the 27-year old Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin circled the Earth for 1 hour and 48 minutes aboard the Vostok...
(12 April) 1985 to ship the flight model of the base block
Mir Core Module
Mir , DOS-7, was the first module of the Soviet/Russian Mir space station complex, in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Generally referred to as either the core module or base block, the module was launched on 20 February 1986 on a Proton-K rocket from LC-200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome...
to the Baikonur cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...
and conduct the systems testing and integration there. The module arrived at the launch site on 6 May, with 1100 of 2500 cables requiring rework based on the results of tests to the ground test model at Khrunichev
Khrunichev
Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center is a Moscow-based producer of spacecraft and space-launch systems, including the Proton and Rokot rockets. The company's history dates back to 1916, when an automobile factory was established outside Moscow...
. In October, the base block was rolled outside its cleanroom
Cleanroom
A cleanroom is an environment, typically used in manufacturing or scientific research, that has a low level of environmental pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles and chemical vapors. More accurately, a cleanroom has a controlled level of contamination that is specified by...
to carry out communications tests. The first launch attempt on 16 February 1986 was scrubbed when the spacecraft communications failed, but the second launch attempt, on 19 February 1986 at 21:28:23 UTC, was successful, meeting the political deadline.
Assembly
The orbital assembly of Mir began in February 1986 with the launch of the core moduleMir Core Module
Mir , DOS-7, was the first module of the Soviet/Russian Mir space station complex, in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Generally referred to as either the core module or base block, the module was launched on 20 February 1986 on a Proton-K rocket from LC-200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome...
on a Proton-K
Proton-K
The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan...
rocket. Four of the six modules which were later added (Kvant-2
Kvant-2
Kvant-2 was the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station. Its primary purpose was to deliver new science experiments, better life support systems, and an airlock to Mir. It was launched on November 26, 1989 on a Proton rocket. It docked to Mir on December 6...
, Kristall
Kristall
The Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket...
, Spektr
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
and Priroda
Priroda
The Priroda module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods...
) followed the same sequence to add themselves to the main Mir complex. Firstly, the module would be launched independently on its own Proton-K and chase the station automatically. It would then dock to the forward docking port on the core module's docking node, then extend its Lyappa arm
Lyappa arm
The Lyappa arm was a robotic arm used during the assembly of the Soviet/Russian space station Mir. Each of the Kvant-2, Kristall, Spektr and Priroda modules was equipped with one of these arms, which, after the module had docked to the core module's forward port, grapples one of two fixtures...
to mate with a fixture on the mode's exterior. The arm would then lift the module away from the forward docking port and rotate it on to the radial port that the module was to mate with, before lowering it down to dock. The node was equipped with only two Konus drogues, however, which were required for dockings. This meant that, prior to the arrival of each new module, the node would have to be depressurised to allow spacewalking cosmonauts to manually relocate the drogue to the next port to be occupied.
The other two expansion modules, Kvant-1
Kvant-1
Kvant-1 was the second module of the Soviet space station Mir. It was the first addition to the Mir base block and contained scientific instruments for astrophysical observations and materials science experiments....
and the docking module
Mir Docking Module
The Stykovochnyy Otsek , GRAU index 316GK, otherwise known as the Mir docking module or SO, was the sixth module of the Russian space station Mir, launched in November 1995 aboard the...
, followed different procedures. Kvant-1, having, unlike the four modules mentioned above, no engines of its own, was launched attached to a tug based on the TKS spacecraft
TKS spacecraft
TKS spacecraft was a Soviet spacecraft design in the late 1960s intended to supply the military Almaz space station. The spacecraft was designed for manned or autonomous cargo resupply use...
which delivered the module to the aft end of the core module instead of the docking node. Once hard docking had been achieved, the tug undocked and deorbited itself. The docking module, meanwhile, was launched aboard during STS-74
STS-74
STS-74 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. It was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, and it carried out the second docking of a space shuttle to Mir. Atlantis lifted off for the mission on 12 November 1995 from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A,...
and mated to the orbiter's Orbiter Docking System. Atlantis then docked, via the module, to Kristall, then left the module behind when it undocked later in the mission. Various other external components, including three truss structures, several experiments and other unpressurised elements were also mounted to the exterior of the station by cosmonauts conducting a total of eighty spacewalks over the course of the station's history.
The station's assembly marked the beginning of the third generation of space station design, being the first to consist of more than one primary spacecraft (thus opening a new era in space architecture
Space architecture
Space architecture, in its simplest definition, is the theory and practice of designing and building inhabited environments in outer space. The architectural approach to spacecraft design addresses the total built environment, drawing from diverse disciplines including physiology, psychology, and...
). First generation stations such as Salyut 1
Salyut 1
Salyut 1 was the first space station of any kind, launched by the USSR on April 19, 1971. It was launched unmanned using a Proton-K rocket. Its first crew came later in Soyuz 10, but was unable to dock completely; its second crew launched in Soyuz 11 and remained on board for 23 days...
and Skylab
Skylab
Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of...
had monolithic designs, consisting of one module with no resupply capability, whilst the second generation stations Salyut 6
Salyut 6
Salyut 6 , DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth flown as part of the Salyut programme. Launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket, the station was the first of the 'second-generation' type of space station. Salyut 6 possessed several revolutionary advances over the earlier...
and Salyut 7
Salyut 7
Salyut 7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first manned in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including a total of 12 manned and 15 unmanned launches...
comprised a monolithic station with two ports to allow consumables to be replenished by cargo spacecraft such as Progress. The capability of Mir to be expanded with add-on modules meant that each could be designed with a specific purpose in mind (for instance, the core module functioned largely as living quarters), thus eliminating the need to install all the station's equipment in one module.
Pressurised modules
In its completed configuration, the space station consisted of seven different modules, each launched into orbit separately over a period of ten years by either Proton-KProton-K
The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan...
rockets or .
| Module | Expedition | Launch date | Launch system | Nation | Isolated View | Station View |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mir Core Module Mir Core Module Mir , DOS-7, was the first module of the Soviet/Russian Mir space station complex, in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Generally referred to as either the core module or base block, the module was launched on 20 February 1986 on a Proton-K rocket from LC-200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome... (Core Module) |
N/A | 19 February 1986 | Proton-K Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... |
Soviet Union | |
|
| The base block for the entire Mir complex, the core module, or DOS-7, provided the main living quarters for resident crews and contained environmental systems, early attitude control systems and the station's main engines. The module was based on hardware developed as part of the Salyut programme, and consisted of a stepped-cylinder main compartment and a spherical 'node' module, which served as an airlock and provided ports to which four of the station's expansion modules were berthed and to which a Soyuz or Progress spacecraft could dock. The module's aft port served as the berthing location for Kvant-1 Kvant-1 Kvant-1 was the second module of the Soviet space station Mir. It was the first addition to the Mir base block and contained scientific instruments for astrophysical observations and materials science experiments.... . |
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| Kvant-1 Kvant-1 Kvant-1 was the second module of the Soviet space station Mir. It was the first addition to the Mir base block and contained scientific instruments for astrophysical observations and materials science experiments.... (Astrophysics Module) |
EO-2 Mir EO-2 Mir EO-2 was the second long duration expedition to the Soviet space station Mir, and it lasted from February to December 1987. The mission was divided into two parts , the division occurring when one of the two crew members, Aleksandr Laveykin, was replaced part way through the mission by... |
31 March 1987 | Proton-K Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... |
Soviet Union | ||
| The first expansion module to be launched, Kvant-1 consisted of two pressurised working compartments and one unpressurised experiment compartment. Scientific equipment included an X-ray telescope X-ray telescope An X-ray telescope is a telescope that is designed to observe remote objects in the X-ray spectrum. In order to get above the Earth's atmosphere, which is opaque to X-rays, X-ray telescopes must be mounted on high altitude rockets or artificial satellites.-Optical design:X-ray telescopes can use... , an ultraviolet telescope, a wide-angle camera, high-energy X-ray experiments, an X-ray/gamma ray detector, and the Svetlana electrophoresis unit. The module also carried six gyrodynes Gyroscope A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. In essence, a mechanical gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation... for attitude control, in addition to life support systems including an Elektron oxygen generator and a Vozdukh carbon dioxide remover. |
||||||
| Kvant-2 Kvant-2 Kvant-2 was the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station. Its primary purpose was to deliver new science experiments, better life support systems, and an airlock to Mir. It was launched on November 26, 1989 on a Proton rocket. It docked to Mir on December 6... (Augmentation Module) |
EO-5 Mir EO-5 Mir EO-5 was the 5th long duration expedition to the space station Mir, which lasted from September 1989 to February 1990. The two person crew was launched and landed in the spacecraft Soyuz TM-8, which remained docked to Mir throughout the mission. The crew are often referred to as the Soyuz TM-8... |
26 November 1989 | Proton-K Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... |
Soviet Union | |
|
| The first TKS TKS spacecraft TKS spacecraft was a Soviet spacecraft design in the late 1960s intended to supply the military Almaz space station. The spacecraft was designed for manned or autonomous cargo resupply use... based module, Kvant-2, was divided into three compartments; an EVA Extra-vehicular activity Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon... airlock, an instrument/cargo compartment (which could function as a backup airlock), and an instrument/experiment compartment. The module also carried a Soviet version of the Manned Maneuvering Unit Manned Maneuvering Unit The Manned Maneuvering Unit is an astronaut propulsion unit which was used by NASA on three space shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered EVA spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. The MMU was used in practice to retrieve a pair of faulty communications... for the Orlan space suit, referred to as Ikar, a system for regenerating water from urine, a shower, the Rodnik water storage system and six gyrodynes to augment those already located in Kvant-1. Scientific equipment included a high-resolution camera, spectrometers, X-ray sensors, the Volna 2 fluid flow experiment, and the Inkubator-2 unit, which was used for hatching and raising quail Quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae... . |
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| Kristall Kristall The Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket... (Technology Module) |
EO-6 Mir EO-6 Mir EO-6 was the sixth long duration expedition to the space station Mir. The two crew members were Anatoli Soloviyov and Aleksandr Balandin .-Crew:... |
31 May 1990 | Proton-K Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... |
Soviet Union | ||
| Kristall, the fourth module, consisted of two main sections. The first was largely used for materials processing (via various processing furnaces), astronomical observations, and a biotechnology experiment utilising the Aniur electrophoresis unit. The second section was a docking compartment which featured two APAS-89 docking ports initially intended for use with the Buran programme and eventually used during the Shuttle-Mir programme Shuttle-Mir Program The Shuttle–Mir Program was a collaborative space program between Russia and the United States, which involved American Space Shuttles visiting the Russian space station Mir, Russian cosmonauts flying on the shuttle and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to engage in... . The docking compartment also contained the Priroda 5 camera used for Earth resources experiments. Kristall also carried six gyrodine Gyroscope A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. In essence, a mechanical gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation... s for attitude control to augment those already on the station, and two collapsible solar arrays. |
||||||
| Spektr Spektr Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment... (Power Module) |
EO-18 | 1 June 1995 | Proton-K Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... |
Russia | ||
| Spektr was the first of the three modules launched during the Shuttle-Mir programme; it served as the living quarters for American astronauts and housed NASA-sponsored experiments. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment and contained atmospheric and surface research equipment. Additionally, it featured four solar arrays which generated approximately half of the station's electrical power. The module also featured a science airlock to expose experiments to the vacuum of space selectively. Spektr was rendered unusable following the collision with Progress M-34 in 1997 which damaged the module, exposing it directly to the vacuum of space. | ||||||
| Docking Module Mir Docking Module The Stykovochnyy Otsek , GRAU index 316GK, otherwise known as the Mir docking module or SO, was the sixth module of the Russian space station Mir, launched in November 1995 aboard the... |
EO-20 | 15 November 1995 | (STS-74 STS-74 STS-74 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. It was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, and it carried out the second docking of a space shuttle to Mir. Atlantis lifted off for the mission on 12 November 1995 from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A,... ) |
US | ||
| The docking module was designed to help simplify Space Shuttle Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons... dockings to Mir. Before the first shuttle docking mission (STS-71 STS-71 STS-71 was the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried out the first Space Shuttle docking to Mir, a Russian space station. The mission used Space Shuttle Atlantis, which lifted off from launch pad 39A on 27 June 1995 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida... ), the Kristall Kristall The Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket... module had to be tediously moved to ensure sufficient clearance between Atlantis and Mirs solar arrays. With the addition of the docking module, enough clearance was provided without the need to relocate Kristall. It had two identical APAS-89 docking ports, one attached to the distal port of Kristall with the other available for shuttle docking. |
||||||
| Priroda Priroda The Priroda module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods... (Earth Sensing Module) |
EO-21 Mir EO-21 Mir EO-21 was a long-duration mission aboard the Russian Space station Mir, which occurred between February and September 1996. The crew consisted of two Russian cosmonauts, Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Yury Usachov, as well as American astronaut Shannon Lucid... |
26 April 1996 | Proton-K Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... |
Russia | ||
| The seventh and final Mir module, Prirodas primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods. The module's experiments were provided by twelve different nations, and covered microwave, visible, near infrared, and infrared spectral regions using both passive and active sounding methods. The module possessed both pressurised and unpressurised segments, and featured a large, externally mounted synthetic aperture radar Synthetic aperture radar Synthetic-aperture radar is a form of radar whose defining characteristic is its use of relative motion between an antenna and its target region to provide distinctive long-term coherent-signal variations that are exploited to obtain finer spatial resolution than is possible with conventional... dish. |
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Unpressurised elements
In addition to the pressurised modules, Mir featured a large number of external components. The largest component was the Sofora girder, a large scaffolding-like structure consisting of 20 segments which, when assembled, projected 14 metres from its mount on Kvant-1. A self-contained thruster block, referred to as the VDU, was mounted on the end of Sofora and was used to augment the roll-control thrusters on the core module. The VDU's increased distance from Mirs axis lead to an 85% decrease in fuel consumption, reducing the amount of propellant required to orient the station. A second girder, Rapana, was mounted aft of Sofora on Kvant-1. This girder, a scaled-down prototype of a structure intended to be used on Mir-2Mir-2
Mir-2 was a space station project begun in February 1976. Some of the modules built for Mir-2 have been incorporated into the International Space Station . The project underwent many changes, but was always based on the DOS-8 base block space station core module, built as a back-up to the DOS-7...
to hold large parabolic dishes away from the main station structure, was 5 metres long and used as a mounting point for externally mounted exposure experiments.
To assist in moving objects around the exterior of the station during EVAs
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
, Mir featured two Strela cargo cranes
Strela (crane)
The Strela cranes are four cargo cranes used to move cosmonauts and components around the exterior of the Soviet/Russian space station Mir and the Russian Orbital Segment of the International Space Station...
mounted to the port and starboard sides of the core module and used for moving spacewalking cosmonauts and parts around the exterior of the station. The cranes consisted of telescopic poles assembled in sections which measured around 6 feet (1.8 m) when collapsed, but when extended using a hand crank were 46 feet (14 m) long, meaning that all of the station's modules could easily be accessed during spacewalks.
Each module was also fitted with a number of external components specific to the experiments that were carried out within that module, the most obvious being the Travers antenna mounted to Priroda. This synthetic aperture radar
Synthetic aperture radar
Synthetic-aperture radar is a form of radar whose defining characteristic is its use of relative motion between an antenna and its target region to provide distinctive long-term coherent-signal variations that are exploited to obtain finer spatial resolution than is possible with conventional...
consisted of a large dish-like framework mounted to the exterior of the module, with associated equipment within, used for Earth observations experiments, as was most of the other equipment on Priroda, including various radiometers and scan platforms. Kvant-2 also featured a number of scan platforms and was also fitted with a mounting bracket to which the cosmonaut manoeuvring unit, or Ikar, was mated. This backpack was designed to assist cosmonauts in moving around the station and the planned Buran in a manner similar to the U.S. Manned Maneuvering Unit
Manned Maneuvering Unit
The Manned Maneuvering Unit is an astronaut propulsion unit which was used by NASA on three space shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered EVA spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. The MMU was used in practice to retrieve a pair of faulty communications...
, but it was only used once, during EO-5
Mir EO-5
Mir EO-5 was the 5th long duration expedition to the space station Mir, which lasted from September 1989 to February 1990. The two person crew was launched and landed in the spacecraft Soyuz TM-8, which remained docked to Mir throughout the mission. The crew are often referred to as the Soyuz TM-8...
.
In addition to module-specific equipment, Kvant-2, Kristall, Spektr and Priroda were each equipped with one Lyappa arm
Lyappa arm
The Lyappa arm was a robotic arm used during the assembly of the Soviet/Russian space station Mir. Each of the Kvant-2, Kristall, Spektr and Priroda modules was equipped with one of these arms, which, after the module had docked to the core module's forward port, grapples one of two fixtures...
, a robotic arm which, after the module had docked to the core module's forward port, grappled one of two fixtures positioned on the core module's docking node. The arriving module's docking probe was then retracted, and the arm raised the module so that it could be pivoted 90° for docking to one of the four radial docking ports.
Power supply
Photovoltaic (PV) arrays powered Mir. The station used a 28 voltVolt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
DC
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
supply which provided 5-, 10-, 20- and 50-amp
Ampere
The ampere , often shortened to amp, is the SI unit of electric current and is one of the seven SI base units. It is named after André-Marie Ampère , French mathematician and physicist, considered the father of electrodynamics...
taps. When the station was illuminated by sunlight, several solar arrays mounted on the pressurised modules provided power to Mirs systems and charged the nickel-cadmium storage batteries
Nickel-cadmium battery
The nickel–cadmium battery ' is a type of rechargeable battery using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes....
installed throughout the station. The arrays rotated in only one degree of freedom over a 180° arc, and tracked the sun using sun sensors and motors installed in the array mounts. The station itself also had to be oriented to ensure optimum illumination of the arrays. When the station's all-sky sensor detected that Mir had entered Earth's shadow, the arrays were rotated to the optimum angle predicted for reacquiring the sun once the station passed out of the shadow. The batteries, which each had a capacity of 60 Ah
Ampere-hour
An ampere-hour or amp-hour is a unit of electric charge, with sub-units milliampere-hour and milliampere second...
, were then used to power the station until the arrays recovered their maximum output on the day side of Earth.
The solar arrays themselves were launched and installed over a period of eleven years, more slowly than originally planned, with the station continually suffering from a shortage of power as a result. The first two arrays, each 38 m2 (409 ft2) in area, were launched on the core module, and together provided a total of 9 kW of power. A third, dorsal
Dorsum (anatomy)
In anatomy, the dorsum is the upper side of animals that typically run, fly, or swim in a horizontal position, and the back side of animals that walk upright. In vertebrates the dorsum contains the backbone. The term dorsal refers to anatomical structures that are either situated toward or grow...
panel was launched on Kvant-1 and mounted on the core module in 1987, providing a further 2 kW over an area of 22 m2 (237 ft2). Kvant-2, launched in 1989, provided two 10 m (32.8 ft) long panels which supplied 3.5 kW each, whilst Kristall was launched with two collapsible, 15 m (49.2 ft) long arrays (providing 4 kW each) which were intended to be moved to Kvant-1 and installed on mounts which were attached during a spacewalk by the EO-8
Soyuz TM-11
-Mission highlights:Soyuz TM-11 was launched the same day as STS-35.11th expedition to Mir. Toyohiro Akiyama was a reporter/space tourist for a Japanese television network....
crew in 1991.
This relocation was not begun, however, until 1995, when the panels were retracted and the left panel installed on Kvant-1. By this time all the arrays had degraded and were supplying much less power than they originally had. To rectify this, Spektr (launched in 1995), which had initially been designed to carry two arrays, was modified to hold four, providing a total of 126 m2 (1360 ft2) of array with a 16 kW supply. Two further arrays were flown to the station on board the during STS-74
STS-74
STS-74 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. It was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, and it carried out the second docking of a space shuttle to Mir. Atlantis lifted off for the mission on 12 November 1995 from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A,...
, carried on the docking module. The first of these, the Mir cooperative solar array, consisted of American photovoltaic cells mounted on a Russian frame. It was installed on the unoccupied mount on Kvant-1 in May 1996 and was connected to the socket that had previously been occupied by the core module's dorsal panel, which was by this point barely supplying 1kW. The other panel, originally intended to be launched on Priroda, replaced the Kristall panel on Kvant-1 in November 1997, completing the station's electrical system.
Orbit control
Mir was maintained in a near circular orbit with an average perigee of 354 km (220 mi) and an average apogee of 374 km (232 mi), travelling at an average speed of 27,700 km/h (17,200 mph) and completing 15.7 orbits per day. As the station constantly lost altitude because of a slight atmospheric drag, it needed to be boosted to a higher altitude several times each year. This boost was generally performed by Progress resupply vessels, although during the Shuttle-Mir programme the task was performed by U.S. Space Shuttles, and, prior to the arrival of Kvant-1, the engines on the core module could also accomplish the task.The attitude (orientation) of the station was independently determined by a set of externally mounted sun, star and horizon sensors. Attitude information was conveyed between updates by rate sensors. Attitude control was maintained by a combination of two mechanisms; in order to hold a set attitude, a system of twelve control moment gyroscope
Control moment gyroscope
A control momentum gyroscope is an attitude control device generally used in spacecraft attitude control systems. A CMG consists of a spinning rotor and one or more motorized gimbals that tilt the rotor’s angular momentum. As the rotor tilts, the changing angular momentum causes a gyroscopic...
s (CMGs, or "gyrodynes") rotating at 10,000 rpm
Revolutions per minute
Revolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis...
kept the station oriented, six CMGs being located in each of the Kvant-1 and Kvant-2 modules. When the attitude of the station needed to be changed, the gyrodynes were disengaged, thrusters (including those mounted directly to the modules, and the VDU thruster used for roll control mounted to the Sofora girder) were used to attain the new attitude and the CMGs were reengaged. This was done fairly regularly depending on experimental needs; for instance, Earth or astronomical observations required that the instrument recording images be continuously aimed at the target, and so the station was oriented to make this possible. Conversely, materials processing experiments required the minimisation of movement on board the station, and so Mir would be oriented in a gravity gradient attitude for stability. Prior to the arrival of the modules containing these gyrodynes, the station's attitude was controlled using thrusters located on the core module alone, and, in an emergency, the thrusters on docked Soyuz spacecraft could be used to maintain the station's orientation.
Communications
Radio communicationsRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
provided telemetry
Telemetry
Telemetry is a technology that allows measurements to be made at a distance, usually via radio wave transmission and reception of the information. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure...
and scientific data links between Mir and the RKA Mission Control Centre (TsUP). Radio links were also used during rendezvous and docking procedures
Space rendezvous
A space rendezvous is an orbital maneuver during which two spacecraft, one of which is often a space station, arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance . Rendezvous requires a precise match of the orbital velocities of the two spacecraft, allowing them to remain at a constant...
and for audio and video communication between crew members, flight controllers and family members. As a result, Mir was equipped with a number of communication systems used for different purposes. The station communicated directly with the ground via the Lira
Lira (ISS)
The Lira system is a two-way communication system used between the International Space Station and Mission Control via the Russian Luch relay satellite constellation, also known as Altair....
antenna
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...
mounted to the core module
Mir Core Module
Mir , DOS-7, was the first module of the Soviet/Russian Mir space station complex, in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Generally referred to as either the core module or base block, the module was launched on 20 February 1986 on a Proton-K rocket from LC-200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome...
. The Lira antenna also had the capability to use the Luch data relay satellite system (which fell into disrepair in the 1990s) and the network of Soviet tracking ships deployed in various locations around the world (which also became unavailable in the 1990s). UHF radio
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
was used by cosmonauts conducting EVAs
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
. UHF was also employed by other spacecraft that docked to or undocked from the station, such as Soyuz, Progress, and the Space Shuttle, in order to receive commands from the TsUP and Mir crew members via the TORU
TORU
TORU system is a manual docking system of Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft that serves as a backup to the automatic Kurs system . It was used on the Mir, Salyut and is currently used on the International Space Station...
system.
Microgravity
At Mirs orbital altitude, the force of Earth's gravity was 88% of that at sea level. While the constant free fall of the station offered a perceived sensation of weightlessnessWeightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
, the onboard environment was not one of weightlessness or zero gravity. The environment was, however, often described as microgravity. This state of perceived weightlessness was not perfect, however, being disturbed by five separate effects:
- The drag resulting from the residual atmosphere,
- Vibratory acceleration caused by mechanical systems and the crew on board the station,
- Orbital corrections by the on-board gyroscopes (which spun at 10,000 rpm, producing vibrations of 166.67 HzHertzThe hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
) or thrusters, - Tidal forceTidal forceThe tidal force is a secondary effect of the force of gravity and is responsible for the tides. It arises because the gravitational force per unit mass exerted on one body by a second body is not constant across its diameter, the side nearest to the second being more attracted by it than the side...
s. Any parts of Mir not at exactly the same distance from Earth tended to follow separate orbitsGravity-gradient stabilizationGravity-gradient stabilization is a method of stabilizing artificial satellites or space tethers in a fixed orientation using only the orbited body's mass distribution and the Earth's gravitational field. The main advantage over using active stabilization with propellants, gyroscopes or reaction...
. However, as each point was physically part of the station, this was impossible, and so each component was subject to small accelerations from tidal forces. - The differences in orbital plane between different locations aboard the station.
Life support
MirAtmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure is the force per unit area exerted into a surface by the weight of air above that surface in the atmosphere of Earth . In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the measurement point...
, fire detection, oxygen levels, waste management and water supply. The highest priority for the ECLSS was the station's atmosphere, but the system also collected, processed, and stored waste and water produced and used by the crew—a process that recycles fluid from the sink, toilet, and condensation from the air. The Elektron system generated oxygen on board the station. The crew had a backup option in the form of bottled oxygen and Solid Fuel Oxygen Generation
Chemical oxygen generator
A chemical oxygen generator is a device releasing oxygen created by a chemical reaction. The oxygen source is usually an inorganic superoxide, chlorate, or perchlorate. A promising group of oxygen sources are ozonides. The generators are usually ignited mechanically, by a firing pin, and the...
(SFOG) canisters, a system known as Vika. Carbon dioxide was removed from the air by the Vozdukh system. Other by-products of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, were removed by activated charcoal
Activated carbon
Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, activated coal or carbo activatus, is a form of carbon that has been processed to make it extremely porous and thus to have a very large surface area available for adsorption or chemical reactions.The word activated in the name is sometimes replaced...
filters. These systems are all now operational on the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
.
The atmosphere on board Mir was similar to Earth's. Normal air pressure on the station was 101.3 kPa (14.7 psi
Pounds per square inch
The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units...
); the same as at sea level on Earth. An Earth-like atmosphere offers benefits for crew comfort, and is much safer than the alternative, a pure oxygen atmosphere, because of the increased risk of a fire such as that responsible for the deaths of the Apollo 1
Apollo 1
Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...
crew.
International cooperation
Intercosmos
Intercosmos ("ИнтерКосмос" Interkosmos) was a space exploration programme run by the Soviet Union to allow members from the military forces of allied Warsaw PactWarsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
countries to participate in manned and unmanned space exploration missions. Participation was also made available to governments of sympathetic countries, such as France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Only the last three of the programme's fourteen missions consisted of an expedition to Mir but none resulted in an extended stay in the station.
- Muhammed FarisMuhammed FarisMuhammed Ahmed Faris is a Syrian military aviator. He was the first Syrian and the second Arab in space.Born in Aleppo, Syria, he was a pilot in the Syrian Air Force with the rank of a colonel...
- EP-1 (1987)
Syria - Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov - EP-2 (1988)
Bulgaria - Abdul Ahad MohmandAbdul Ahad MohmandAbdul Ahad Momand is a former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first Afghan in space when he spent nine days aboard the Mir space station in 1988 as a Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut...
- EP-3Mir EP-3Mir EP-3 was a week-long manned spaceflight to the Soviet space station Mir, during the long-duration expedition Mir EO-3. It was the sixth manned spaceflight to Mir, and was launched with the spacecraft Soyuz TM-6. This spacecraft also carried Valeri Polyakov, who would stay aboard Mir after the...
(1988)
Afghanistan
European involvement
Over the course of the Mir programme, various European astronauts visited the station as part of several cooperative programmes:- Jean-Loup ChrétienJean-Loup ChrétienJean-Loup Jacques Marie Chrétien, is a French engineer, a retired Général de Brigade in the Armée de l'Air , and a former CNES astronaut. He flew on two Franco-Soviet space missions and a NASA Space Shuttle mission...
- Aragatz (1988)
Early Modern France - Helen SharmanHelen SharmanHelen Patricia Sharman, OBE PhD , is a British chemist. She was the first Briton in space, visiting the Mir space station aboard Soyuz TM-12 in 1991....
- Project JunoProject JunoProject Juno was a private British space programme, which selected Helen Sharman to be the first Briton in space.As the United Kingdom has never had a human spaceflight programme, a private consortium was formed to raise money to pay the USSR for a seat on a Soyuz mission to the Mir space station...
(1991) - Franz ViehböckFranz ViehböckFranz Artur Viehböck is an Austrian electrical engineer, and was Austria's first astronaut. He visited the Mir space station in 1991 aboard Soyuz TM-13, returning aboard Soyuz TM-12 after spending just over a week in space....
- Austromir '91Soyuz TM-13-Mission highlights:13th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut from Austria and cosmonaut from soon to be independent Kazakhstan.Soyuz-TM 13 carried Austrian cosmonaut-researcher Franz Viehböck and still Soviet-Kazakh cosmonaut-researcher Toktar Aubakirov. The flight was unusual for carrying no...
(1991)
Austria - Klaus-Dietrich FladeKlaus-Dietrich FladeKlaus-Dietrich Flade is a German pilot and former German Aerospace Center astronaut who visited the Mir space station in 1992 aboard the Soyuz TM-14 mission, returning to Earth a week later aboard Soyuz TM-13.-Biography:...
- Mir '92Soyuz TM-14-Mission highlights:14th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut from Germany.The First Russian Soyuz mission after the collapse of the Soviet Union....
(1992)
Germany - Michel TogniniMichel TogniniMichel Ange-Charles Tognini is a French test pilot, officer in the French Air Force, and a former CNES and ESA astronaut who currently serves as Head of the European Astronaut Centre of the European Space Agency. A veteran of two space flights, Tognini has logged a total of 19 days in space...
- AntarèsSoyuz TM-15-Crew:-Mission highlights:15th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut Michel Tognini from France.Michel Tognini, passenger aboard Soyuz- TM 15, was the third Frenchman to visit a space station. He conducted ten experiments using 300 kg of equipment delivered by Progress-M flights. Tognini spent...
(1992) Early Modern France - Jean-Pierre HaigneréJean-Pierre HaigneréJean-Pierre Haigneré is a French Air Force officer and a former CNES astronaut.Haigneré was born in Paris, France and joined the French Air Force, where he trained as a test pilot....
- AltairSoyuz TM-17Soyuz TM-17 was a Russian mission to the space station Mir, launched on July 1, 1993. It lasted 196 days and 17 hours, making more than 3,000 orbits of the planet Earth.-Crew:-Mission highlights:...
(1993) Early Modern France - Ulf MerboldUlf MerboldDr. Ulf Dietrich Merbold is the first West German citizen and second German native to have flown in space. He is also the first member of the European Space Agency Astronaut Corps to participate in a spaceflight mission. He holds the distinction of being the first non-US citizen to reach orbit in...
- Euromir '94Soyuz TM-20-Crew:-Mission highlights:20th expedition to Mir.Carried 10 kg of equipment for use by Merbold in ESA’s month-long Euromir94 experiment program. During automatic approach to Mir’s front port, the...
(1994) Germany - Thomas ReiterThomas ReiterThomas Arthur Reiter is a retired European astronaut and is a Brigadier General in the Luftwaffe currently working as Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations at the European Space Agency . , he was one of the top 25 astronauts in terms of total time in space...
- Euromir '95Soyuz TM-22-Crew:-Mission highlights:23rd expedition to Mir.Soyuz TM-22 was a Russian transport spacecraft that transported cosmonauts to the Mir space station for a 135-day stay. It was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and docked on September 5, 1995 with Mir's Kvant-2 module at the port that was...
(1995) Germany - Claudie HaigneréClaudie HaigneréClaudie Haigneré is a French doctor, politician, and former astronaut with the Centre National d'Études Spatiales and the European Space Agency ....
- CassiopéeSoyuz TM-24-Crew:-Mission highlights:27th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut from France.Soyuz TM-24 carried a crew of three to the Mir space station. The crew consisted of Cosmonauts Valery Korzun and Aleksandr Kaleri, and the first French woman in space, Claudie André-Deshays. They joined American...
(1996) Early Modern France - Reinhold EwaldReinhold EwaldDr. Reinhold Ewald is a German physicist and ESA astronaut.Born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, he received diploma in experimental physics from the University of Cologne in 1983 and the Ph.D. in 1986, with a minor degree in human physiology.In 1990, he was selected to the German astronaut team,...
- Mir '97Soyuz TM-25-Crew:-Mission highlights:This was the 30th expedition to Mir. An ESA astronaut from Germany was included on the mission.Soyuz TM-25 is a Russian spacecraft that was launched to carry astronauts and supplies to Mir station...
(1997) Germany - Léopold EyhartsLéopold EyhartsLéopold Eyharts is a Brigadier General in the French Air Force and an ESA astronaut.-Background:Eyharts was born April 28, 1957, in Biarritz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France...
- PégaseSoyuz TM-27-Mission accomplishments:*Docked with Mir*Exchange part of crew*Carried out French mission PEGASE*Conducted routine science experiments-EVA schedule:*03.03.1998 aborted due to faulty hatch*01.04.1998 *06.04.1998 *11.04.1998...
(1998) Early Modern France - Ivan BellaIvan BellaIvan Bella is a Slovak Air Force officer who became the first Slovak citizen to fly in space...
- StefanikSoyuz TM-29Soyuz TM-29 was a Russian manned spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz 11A511U rocket. It docked with Mir on February 22 at 05:36 GMT with Cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev of Russia, Jean-Pierre Haigneré of France, and Ivan Bella of Slovakia aboard. Since two crew seats had...
(1999)
Slovakia
Shuttle–Mir programme
Space Station Freedom
Space Station Freedom was a NASA project to construct a permanently manned Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union Address, Freedom was never constructed or completed as originally designed, and after...
as a counterpart to Mir, while the Soviets were planning to construct Mir-2
Mir-2
Mir-2 was a space station project begun in February 1976. Some of the modules built for Mir-2 have been incorporated into the International Space Station . The project underwent many changes, but was always based on the DOS-8 base block space station core module, built as a back-up to the DOS-7...
in the 1990s as a replacement for the station. Because of budget and design constraints, Freedom never progressed past mock-ups and minor component tests and, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Space Race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
, the project was nearly cancelled entirely by the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. The post-Soviet economic chaos
History of post-Soviet Russia
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 29 May 1991, the Russian Federation became an independent country.Russia was the largest of the fifteen republics that made up the Soviet Union, accounting for over 60% of the gross domestic product and over 50% of the Soviet population. Russians also...
in Russia also led to the cancellation of Mir-2, though only after its base block, DOS-8, had been constructed. Similar budgetary difficulties were faced by other nations with space station projects, which prompted the American government to negotiate with European states, Russia, Japan, and Canada in the early 1990s to begin a collaborative project. In June 1992, American president George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and Russian president Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
agreed to cooperate on space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
. The resulting Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes called for a short joint space programme with one American astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
deployed to the Russian space station Mir and two Russian cosmonauts deployed to a Space Shuttle.
In September 1993, U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Jr., and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin was the founder and the first chairman of the Gazprom energy company, the longest serving Prime Minister of Russia and Acting President of Russia for a day in 1996. He was a key figure in Russian politics in the 1990s, and a great contributor to the Russian...
announced plans for a new space station, which eventually became the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
. They also agreed, in preparation of this new project, that the United States would be heavily involved in the Mir programme as part of an international project known as the Shuttle–Mir programme. The project, sometimes called "Phase One", was intended to allow the United States to learn from Russian experience in long-duration spaceflight and to foster a spirit of cooperation between the two nations and their space agencies, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency
Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located...
(Roskosmos). The project helped to prepare the way for further cooperative space ventures, specifically, "Phase Two" of the joint project, the construction of the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
(ISS). The programme was announced in 1993; the first mission started in 1994, and the project continued until its scheduled completion in 1998. Eleven Space Shuttle missions, a joint Soyuz flight, and almost 1000 cumulative days in space for U.S. astronauts occurred over the course of seven long-duration expeditions.
Other visitors
- Toyohiro AkiyamaToyohiro Akiyamais a Japanese TV journalist best known for his flight to the Mir space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 1990. Akiyama is the first person of Japanese descent to have flown in space. He was known as the "Space Journalist" in Japan....
- KosmoreporterSoyuz TM-11-Mission highlights:Soyuz TM-11 was launched the same day as STS-35.11th expedition to Mir. Toyohiro Akiyama was a reporter/space tourist for a Japanese television network....
(1990)
Japan - A British con artistConfidence trickA confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
, Peter Rodney Llewellyn, almost visited Mir in 1999 on a private contract after promising US$United States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
100 million for the privilege.
Life on board
Inside, the 130 tonneTonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
Mir resembled a cramped labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
, 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 crew members, but was capable of supporting as many as six for up to a month. The station was designed to remain in orbit for around five years, but ended up remaining in orbit for fifteen. As a result, NASA astronaut John Blaha reported that, with the exception of Priroda
Priroda
The Priroda module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods...
and Spektr
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
, which were added later into the station's life, Mir did look used, which is to be expected given it had been lived in for ten to eleven years without being brought home and cleaned.
Crew schedule
The time zone used on board Mir was Moscow TimeMoscow Time
Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second westernmost of the nine time zones of Russia. Moscow Time has been UTC+4 year-round since 27 March 2011....
(UTC+03). The windows were covered during night hours to give the impression of darkness because the station experienced 16 sunrises and sunsets a day. A typical day for the crew began with a wake-up at 08:00, followed by two hours of personal hygiene and breakfast. Work was conducted from 10:00 until 13:00, followed by an hour of exercise and an hour's lunch break. Three more hours of work and another hour of exercise followed lunch, and the crews began preparing for their evening meal at about 19:00. The cosmonauts were free to do as they wished in the evening, and largely worked to their own pace during the day.
In their spare time, crews were able to catch up with work, observe the Earth below, respond to letters, drawings and other items sent up from Earth (and give them an official stamp to show they had been aboard Mir), or make use of the station's ham radio. Two amateur radio call signs, U1MIR and U2MIR, were assigned to Mir in the late 1980s, allowing amateur radio operators on Earth to communicate with the cosmonauts. The station was also equipped with a large supply of books and films for the crew to read and watch.
NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger related how life on board Mir was structured and lived according to the detailed itineraries provided by ground control. Every second on board was accounted for and all activities were timetabled. After working some time on Mir, Linenger came to feel that the order in which his activities were allocated did not represent the most logical or efficient order possible for these activities. He decided to perform his tasks in an order that he felt enabled him to work more efficiently, be less fatigued, and suffer less from stress. Linenger noted that his comrades on Mir did not "improvise" in this way, and as a medical doctor he observed the effects of stress on his comrades that he believed was the outcome of following an itinerary without making modifications to it. Despite this, however, he commented that his comrades performed all their tasks in a supremely professional manner.
Astronaut Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid
Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid is an American biochemist and a NASA astronaut. At one time, she held the record for the longest duration stay in space by an American, as well as by a woman...
, who set the record for longest stay in space by a woman while aboard Mir (surpassed by Sunita Williams
Sunita Williams
Sunita Williams is a United States Naval officer and a NASA astronaut. She was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and then joined Expedition 15...
11 years later on the ISS
ISS
The ISS is the International Space Station.ISS may also refer to:* I See Stars, an American electronic rock band* ISS A/S, a Danish service company* Idea Star Singer, a Malayalam music reality show by Asianet TV...
), also commented about working aboard Mir saying "I think going to work on a daily basis on Mir is very similar to going to work on a daily basis on an outstation in Antarctica. The big difference with going to work here is the isolation, because you really are isolated. You don't have a lot of support from the ground. You really are on your own."
Exercise
The most significant adverse effects of long-term weightlessness are muscle atrophyMuscle atrophy
Muscle atrophy, or disuse atrophy, is defined as a decrease in the mass of the muscle; it can be a partial or complete wasting away of muscle. When a muscle atrophies, this leads to muscle weakness, since the ability to exert force is related to mass...
and deterioration of the skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
, or spaceflight osteopenia
Spaceflight osteopenia
Spaceflight osteopenia refers to the characteristic bone loss that occurs during spaceflight. Astronauts lose an average of more than 1% bone mass per month spent in space...
. Other significant effects include fluid redistribution, a slowing of the cardiovascular system, decreased production of red blood cell
Red blood cell
Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate organism's principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood flow through the circulatory system...
s, balance disorders, and a weakening of the immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
. Lesser symptoms include loss of body mass, nasal congestion, sleep disturbance, excess flatulence
Flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
, and puffiness of the face. These effects begin to reverse quickly upon return to the Earth.
To prevent some of these adverse physiological effects, the station was equipped with two treadmill
Treadmill
A treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain...
s (in the core module and Kvant-2) and a stationary bicycle (in the core module); each cosmonaut was to cycle the equivalent of 10 km and run the equivalent of 5 per day. Cosmonauts used bungee cords to strap themselves to the treadmill. Researchers believe that exercise is a good countermeasure for the bone and muscle density loss that occurs when humans live for a long time without gravity.
Hygiene
There were two space toiletSpace toilet
A space toilet, or zero gravity toilet, is a toilet that can be used in a weightless environment. In the absence of weight the collection and retention of liquid and solid waste is directed by use of air flow. Since the air used to direct the waste is returned to the cabin, it is filtered...
s (ASUs) on Mir, located in the core module
Mir Core Module
Mir , DOS-7, was the first module of the Soviet/Russian Mir space station complex, in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Generally referred to as either the core module or base block, the module was launched on 20 February 1986 on a Proton-K rocket from LC-200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome...
and Kvant-2
Kvant-2
Kvant-2 was the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station. Its primary purpose was to deliver new science experiments, better life support systems, and an airlock to Mir. It was launched on November 26, 1989 on a Proton rocket. It docked to Mir on December 6...
. These units used a fan-driven suction system similar to the Space Shuttle Waste Collection System. Cosmonauts first fastened themselves to the toilet seat, which was equipped with spring-loaded restraining bars to ensure a good seal. A lever operated a powerful fan and a suction hole slid open: the air stream carried the waste away. Solid waste was collected in individual bags which were stored in an aluminium container. Full containers were transferred to Progress spacecraft for disposal. Liquid waste was evacuated by a hose connected to the front of the toilet, with anatomically correct "urine funnel adapters" attached to the tube so both men and women could use the same toilet. Waste was collected and transferred to the Water Recovery System, where it was recycled back into drinking water, although this was usually used to produce oxygen via the Elektron system.
Mir featured a shower, referred to as Bania, which was located in Kvant-2. The unit was a major improvement on the units installed in previous Salyut stations, but proved difficult to use due to the amount of time required to set up, use, and pack it away. The shower, which featured a plastic curtain and fan to collect water via an airflow, was later converted into a steam room, eventually having its plumbing removed and the space was reused. When the shower was unavailable, crew members washed using wet wipes, with soap dispensed from a toothpaste tube-like container, or using a washbasin equipped with a plastic hood, located in the core module. Crews were also provided with rinse-less shampoo and edible toothpaste to save water.
Sleeping in space
The station provided two permanent crew quarters, called "Kayutkas". These were phonebox-sized booths set towards the rear of the core module, each featuring a tethered sleeping bag, a fold-out desk and a porthole, in addition to storage for a cosmonaut's personal effects. Visiting crews had no allocated sleep module, instead attaching a sleeping bag to an available space on a wall; American astronauts installed themselves within SpektrSpektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
until a collision with a Progress spacecraft caused the depressurization of that module. It was important that crew accommodations be well ventilated; otherwise, astronauts could wake up oxygen-deprived and gasping for air, because a bubble of their own exhaled carbon dioxide had formed around their heads.
Food and drink
Most of the food eaten by station crews was frozen, refrigerated or canned. Menus were prepared by the cosmonauts, with the help of a dietitianDietitian
Dietitians supervise the preparation and service of food, develop modified diets, participate in research, and educate individuals and groups on good nutritional habits. The goals of dietitians are to provide medical nutritional intervention, and to obtain, safely prepare, serve and advise on...
, before their flight to the station. The diet was designed to provide around 100 g of protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
, 130 g of fat
Fat
Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...
and 330 g of carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
s per day, in addition to appropriate mineral and vitamin supplements. Meals were spread out throughout the day to aid assimilation. Canned food such as jellied beef tongue was placed into one of several niches in the core module's table, where they could be warmed in 5-10 minutes. Usually, crews drank tea, coffee and fruit juices, but, unlike the ISS, the station also had a supply of cognac and vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
for special occasions.
Expeditions
During its 15-year spaceflight, Mir was visited by a total of 28 long-duration or "principal" crews, each of which was given a sequential expedition number formatted as EO-X. Expeditions varied in length (from the 72-day flight of the crew of EO-28 to the 437-day flight of Valeri Polyakov), but generally lasted around six months. Principal expedition crews consisted of two to three crew members, who often launched as part of one expedition but returned with another (Polyakov launched with EO-14 and landed with EO-17). The principal expeditions were often supplemented with visiting crews who remained on the station during the week-long handover period between one crew and the next before returning with the departing crew, the station's life support system being able to support a crew of up to six for short periods. The station was occupied for a total of four distinct periods; 12 March–16 July 1986 (EO-1), 5 February 1987–27 April 1989 (EO-2–EO-4), the record-breaking run from 5 September 1989–28 August 1999 (EO-5–EO-27), and 4 April–16 June 2000 (EO-28). By the time of the station's deorbit, it had been visited by 104 different people from twelve different nations, making it the second-most visited spacecraft in history after the International Space StationInternational Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
.
Early existence
Due to the pressure to launch the station in such short order, mission planners were left without Soyuz spacecraft or modules to launch to the station at first. It was decided to launch Soyuz T-15Soyuz T-15
- Backup crew :- Mission parameters :* Mass: 6850 kg* Perigee: 331 km* Apogee: 366 km* Inclination: 51.6°* Period: 91.5 minutes- Mission highlights :Soyuz T-15 was the first expedition to Mir....
on a dual mission to both Mir and Salyut 7
Salyut 7
Salyut 7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first manned in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including a total of 12 manned and 15 unmanned launches...
.
Leonid Kizim
Leonid Kizim
Leonid Denisovich Kizim was a Soviet cosmonaut who was twice named a Hero of the Soviet Union ....
and Vladimir Solovyov first docked with the Mir space station on 15 March 1986. During their nearly 51-day stay on Mir, they brought the station online and checked its systems. They also unloaded two Progress spacecraft
Progress spacecraft
The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is...
launched after their arrival, Progress 25 and Progress 26.
On 5 May 1986, they undocked from Mir for a day-long journey to Salyut 7. They spent 51 days there and gathered 400 kg of scientific material from Salyut 7 for return to Mir. While Soyuz T-15 was at Salyut 7, the unmanned Soyuz TM-1
Soyuz TM-1
Soyuz TM-1 was an unmanned test flight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, intended for use in the Mir space station program. This was the maiden flight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, intended as the successor to the Soyuz-T spacecraft used in the Salyut program....
arrived at the unoccupied Mir and remained for 9 days, testing the new Soyuz TM model. Soyuz T-15 redocked with Mir on 26 June and delivered the experiments and 20 instruments, including a multichannel spectrometer
Spectrometer
A spectrometer is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials. The variable measured is most often the light's intensity but could also, for instance, be the polarization...
. The EO-1 crew spent their last 20 days on Mir conducting Earth observations before returning to Earth on 16 July 1986, leaving the new station unoccupied.
The second expedition to Mir, EO-2
Mir EO-2
Mir EO-2 was the second long duration expedition to the Soviet space station Mir, and it lasted from February to December 1987. The mission was divided into two parts , the division occurring when one of the two crew members, Aleksandr Laveykin, was replaced part way through the mission by...
, launched on Soyuz TM-2
Soyuz TM-2
-Mission parameters:*Mass: 7100 kg*Perigee: 341 km*Apogee: 365 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 91.6 minutes-Mission highlights:...
on 5 February 1987. During their stay, the Kvant-1
Kvant-1
Kvant-1 was the second module of the Soviet space station Mir. It was the first addition to the Mir base block and contained scientific instruments for astrophysical observations and materials science experiments....
module, launched on 30 March 1987, arrived. It was the first experimental version of a planned series of '37K' modules scheduled to be launched to Mir on the Soviet Buran spacecraft. Kvant-1 was originally planned to dock with Salyut 7
Salyut 7
Salyut 7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first manned in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including a total of 12 manned and 15 unmanned launches...
; however, due to technical problems during its development, it was reassigned to Mir. The module carried the first set of six gyroscopes for attitude control. The module also carried instruments for X-ray and ultraviolet astrophysical observations.
The initial rendezvous of the Kvant-1 module with Mir on 5 April 1987 was troubled by the failure of the onboard control system. After the failure of the second attempt to dock, the resident cosmonauts, Yuri Romanenko
Yuri Romanenko
Yury Viktorovich Romanenko is a former Soviet cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union . Over his career, Yury Romanenko spent a total of 430 days 20 hours 21 minutes 30 seconds in space and 18 hours in space walks. In 1987 he was a resident of the Mir space station, launching on Soyuz TM-2 and...
and Aleksandr Laveykin
Aleksandr Laveykin
Aleksandr Ivanovich Laveykin was a Soviet cosmonaut.Born in Moscow, Laveykin was selected as a cosmonaut on December 1, 1978. He flew on one spaceflight, for the first part of the long duration expedition Mir EO-2. He flew as Flight Engineer, and was both launched and landed with the spacecraft...
, conducted an EVA to fix the problem. They found a trash bag which had been left in orbit after the departure of one of the previous cargo ships and was now located between the module and the station, which prevented the docking. After removing the bag docking could be completed on 12 April.
The Soyuz TM-2 launch was the beginning of a string of 6 Soyuz launches and three long-duration crews between 5 February 1987 and 27 April 1989. This period also saw the first international visitors to the station, Muhammed Faris
Muhammed Faris
Muhammed Ahmed Faris is a Syrian military aviator. He was the first Syrian and the second Arab in space.Born in Aleppo, Syria, he was a pilot in the Syrian Air Force with the rank of a colonel...
(Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
), Abdul Ahad Mohmand
Abdul Ahad Mohmand
Abdul Ahad Momand is a former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first Afghan in space when he spent nine days aboard the Mir space station in 1988 as a Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut...
(Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
) and Jean-Loup Chrétien
Jean-Loup Chrétien
Jean-Loup Jacques Marie Chrétien, is a French engineer, a retired Général de Brigade in the Armée de l'Air , and a former CNES astronaut. He flew on two Franco-Soviet space missions and a NASA Space Shuttle mission...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). With the departure of EO-4
Mir EO-4
Mir EO-4 was the fourth long-duration expedition to the Soviet space station Mir. The expedition began in November 1988, when crew members Commander Aleksandr Volkov and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev arrived at the station via the spacecraft Soyuz TM-7...
on Soyuz TM-7
Soyuz TM-7
-Mission parameters:*Mass: 7,000 kg 15,400 lb*Perigee: 194 km *Apogee: 235 km *Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 88.8 minutes-Mission highlights:...
on 27 April 1989 the station was once again left unoccupied.
Third start
The launch of Soyuz TM-8Soyuz TM-8
-Launch and Docking:The Soyuz-U2 rocket was painted with advertisements. During the Soyuz spacecraft's final approach to Mir , the Kurs rendezvous and docking system malfunctioned, so Viktorenko took over manual control and withdrew to 20 metres, and then docked manually...
on 5 September 1989 marked the beginning of the longest human presence in space up until 23 October 2010 (when this record was surpassed by the ISS). It also marked the beginning of Mir's second expansion. The Kvant-2
Kvant-2
Kvant-2 was the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station. Its primary purpose was to deliver new science experiments, better life support systems, and an airlock to Mir. It was launched on November 26, 1989 on a Proton rocket. It docked to Mir on December 6...
and Kristall
Kristall
The Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket...
modules were now ready for launch. Alexander Viktorenko
Alexander Viktorenko
Aleksandr Stepanovich Viktorenko is a Soviet cosmonaut. He was born in Olginka, North-Kazakhstan Oblast, Kazakh SSR on March 29, 1947. He is married with two children....
and Aleksandr Serebrov
Aleksandr Serebrov
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Serebrov is a former Soviet cosmonaut. He was born in Moscow, on February 15, 1944, graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology , and was selected as a cosmonaut on December 1, 1978. He retired on May 10, 1995...
docked with Mir and brought the station out of its five-month hibernation. On 29 September the cosmonauts installed equipment in the docking system in preparation for the arrival of Kvant-2, the first of the 20 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
add-on modules based on the TKS spacecraft
TKS spacecraft
TKS spacecraft was a Soviet spacecraft design in the late 1960s intended to supply the military Almaz space station. The spacecraft was designed for manned or autonomous cargo resupply use...
from the Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....
programme.
Manned Maneuvering Unit
The Manned Maneuvering Unit is an astronaut propulsion unit which was used by NASA on three space shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered EVA spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. The MMU was used in practice to retrieve a pair of faulty communications...
, was located inside Kvant-2's airlock.
Soyuz TM-9
Soyuz TM-9
-Mission highlights:During docking, cosmonauts aboard Mir noticed that three of the eight thermal blankets on the descent module of the approaching Soyuz-TM 9 spacecraft had come loose from their attachments near the heat shield, yet remained attached at their top ends...
launched EO-6
Mir EO-6
Mir EO-6 was the sixth long duration expedition to the space station Mir. The two crew members were Anatoli Soloviyov and Aleksandr Balandin .-Crew:...
crew members Anatoly Solovyev
Anatoly Solovyev
Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev is a former Soviet pilot, cosmonaut, and Colonel. Solovyev holds the world record on the number of spacewalks performed , and accumulated time spent spacewalking .- Family :...
and Aleksandr Balandin on 11 February 1990. While docking, the EO-5 crew on board Mir noted that three thermal blankets on the ferry were loose, potentially creating problems on reentry, but it was decided that they would be manageable. Their stay on board Mir saw the addition of the Kristall module, launched on 31 May 1990. The first docking attempt on 6 June was aborted due to an attitude control thruster failure. Kristall arrived at Mir’s front port on 10 June and was relocated to the lateral port opposite Kvant-2 the next day, restoring the equilibrium of the complex. Due to the delay in the docking of Kristall, EO-6 was extended by 10 days to permit the activation of the module’s systems and to accommodate the EVA to repair the loose thermal blankets on Soyuz TM-9.
Kristall contained a number of furnaces for use in producing crystals under microgravity conditions (hence the choice of name for the module). The module was also equipped with biotechnology research equipment, including a small greenhouse for plant cultivation experiments which was equipped with a source of light and a feeding system, in addition to equipment for astronomical observations. The most obvious features of the module, however, were the two Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
The Androgynous Peripheral Attach System, or Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System, is a spacecraft docking mechanism used on the International Space Station. It is used to dock the Space Shuttle orbiter and to connect the Functional Cargo Block to Pressurized Mating Adapter-1...
(APAS-89) docking ports designed to be compatible with the Buran spacecraft. Although they were never used in a Buran docking, they were later to prove very useful during the Shuttle-Mir programme, providing a berthing location for U.S Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
s.
The EO-7
Mir EO-7
Mir EO-7 was the seventh long duration expedition to the space station Mir. The two crew members were Gennadi Manakov and Gennadi Strekalov .-Crew:...
relief crew arrived aboard Soyuz TM-10
Soyuz TM-10
-Mission highlights:TM-10 marked the return to earth of Japanese reporter Toyohiro Akiyama.The Soyuz arrived at Mir's aft port with four passengers: quail for cages in Kvant-2. A quail had laid an egg en route to the station. It was returned to Earth, along with 130 kg of experiment results...
on 3 August 1990. The new crew arrived at Mir with quail
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
for Kvant-2's cages, one of which laid an egg en-route to the station. It was returned to Earth, along with 130 kg of experiment results and industrial products, in Soyuz TM-9. Two more expeditions, EO-8 and EO-9, continued the work of their predecessors whilst tensions grew back on Earth.
Post-Soviet period
The EO-10 crew, launched aboard Soyuz TM-13Soyuz TM-13
-Mission highlights:13th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut from Austria and cosmonaut from soon to be independent Kazakhstan.Soyuz-TM 13 carried Austrian cosmonaut-researcher Franz Viehböck and still Soviet-Kazakh cosmonaut-researcher Toktar Aubakirov. The flight was unusual for carrying no...
on 2 October 1991, was the last crew to launch from the USSR and continued the occupation of Mir through the fall of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The crew is notable for having launched as Soviet citizens and returning to earth as Russians. The newly formed Russian Federal Space Agency
Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located...
(Roskosmos) was unable to finance the unlaunched Spektr
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
and Priroda
Priroda
The Priroda module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods...
modules, instead putting them into storage and ending Mir's second expansion.
The first manned mission flown from an independent Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
was Soyuz TM-14
Soyuz TM-14
-Mission highlights:14th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut from Germany.The First Russian Soyuz mission after the collapse of the Soviet Union....
, launched on 17 March 1992, which carried the EO-11 crew to Mir, docking on 19 March before the departure of Soyuz TM-13. On 17 June, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
and U.S. President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
announced what would later become the Shuttle-Mir programme, a cooperative venture which would prove very useful to the cash-strapped Roskosmos (and led to the eventual completion and launch of Spektr and Priroda). EO-12 followed in July, alongside a brief visit by French astronaut Michel Tognini
Michel Tognini
Michel Ange-Charles Tognini is a French test pilot, officer in the French Air Force, and a former CNES and ESA astronaut who currently serves as Head of the European Astronaut Centre of the European Space Agency. A veteran of two space flights, Tognini has logged a total of 19 days in space...
. The crew which succeeded them, EO-13, began preparations for the Shuttle-Mir programme by flying to the station in a modified spacecraft, Soyuz TM-16
Soyuz TM-16
-Crew:-Mission highlights:16th expedition to Mir.First Soyuz without a probe and drogue docking system since 1976. It carriedan APAS-89 androgynous docking unit different from the APAS-75 unit used for ASTP in 1975, yet similar in general principles. Soyuz-TM 16 used it to dock with an androgynous...
(launched on 26 January 1993), which was equipped with an APAS-89 docking system rather than the usual probe-and-drogue, enabling it to dock to Kristall and test the port which would later be used by U.S. space shuttles. The spacecraft also enabled controllers to obtain data on the dynamics of docking a spacecraft to a space station off the station's longitudinal axis, in addition to data on the structural integrity of this configuration via a test called Rezonans conducted on 28 January. Soyuz TM-15
Soyuz TM-15
-Crew:-Mission highlights:15th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut Michel Tognini from France.Michel Tognini, passenger aboard Soyuz- TM 15, was the third Frenchman to visit a space station. He conducted ten experiments using 300 kg of equipment delivered by Progress-M flights. Tognini spent...
, meanwhile, departed with the EO-12 crew on 1 February.
Throughout the period following the collapse of the USSR, crews on Mir experienced occasional reminders of the economic chaos occurring in Russia. The initial cancellation of Spektr and Priroda was the first such sign, closely followed by the reduction in communications as a result of the fleet of tracking ships being withdrawn from service by Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. The new Ukrainian government also vastly raised the price of the Kurs
Kurs (docking system)
Kurs is a radio telemetry system used by the Soviet and later Russian space program.Kurs was developed by the Research Institute of Precision Instruments before 1985 and manufactured by the Kiev Radio Factory .- History :...
docking systems, manufactured in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
the Russians' attempts to reduce their dependence on Kurs would later lead to accidents during TORU tests in 1997. Various Progress spacecraft had parts of their cargoes missing, either because the consumable in question had been unavailable, or because the ground crews at Baikonur had, in desperation, looted them. The problems became particularly obvious during the launch of the EO-14 crew aboard Soyuz TM-17
Soyuz TM-17
Soyuz TM-17 was a Russian mission to the space station Mir, launched on July 1, 1993. It lasted 196 days and 17 hours, making more than 3,000 orbits of the planet Earth.-Crew:-Mission highlights:...
in July; half an hour before launch there was a black-out at the pad, and the entire power supply to the nearby city of Leninsk
Baikonur
Baikonur , formerly known as Leninsk, is a city in Kyzylorda Province of Kazakhstan, rented and administered by the Russian Federation. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995.The shape of the...
failed an hour after launch. Nevertheless, the spacecraft launched on time and arrived at the station two days later. All of Mir
Progress M-18
Progress M-18 was a Russian unmanned cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1993 to resupply the Mir space station. The thirty-sixth of sixty four Progress spacecraft to visit Mir, it used the Progress-M 11F615A55 configuration, and had the serial number 218...
vacated the core module's front port and departed.
The EO-13 crew departed on 22 July, and soon after Mir passed through the annual Perseid
Perseids
The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point from which they appear to come, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. The name derives in part from the word Perseides , a term found in Greek mythology...
meteor shower
Meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...
, during which the station was hit by several particles. A spacewalk was conducted on 28 September to inspect the station's hull, but no serious damage was reported. Soyuz TM-18
Soyuz TM-18
Soyuz TM-18 was launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome and landing 112 km north of Arkalyk. TM-18 was a two day solo flight that docked with the Mir space station on January 10, 1994. The three cosmonauts became the 15th resident crew of the MIR...
arrived on 10 January 1994 carrying the EO-15 crew (including Valeri Polyakov, who was to remain on Mir for 14 months), and Soyuz TM-17
Soyuz TM-17
Soyuz TM-17 was a Russian mission to the space station Mir, launched on July 1, 1993. It lasted 196 days and 17 hours, making more than 3,000 orbits of the planet Earth.-Crew:-Mission highlights:...
left on 14 January. The undocking was unusual, however, in that the spacecraft was to pass along Kristall in order to obtain photographs of the APAS to assist in the training of space shuttle pilots. Due to an error in setting up the control system, the spacecraft struck the station a glancing blow during the manoeuvre, scratching the exterior of Kristall.
The launch of Soyuz TM-19
Soyuz TM-19
-Crew:-Mission highlights:Commander Malenchenko and Flight Engineer Musabayev, spaceflightrookies, were to have been launched with veteran cosmonaut GennadiStrekalov, who would have returned to Earth with Viktor Afanaseyev and Yuri...
, carrying the EO-16 crew, was delayed due to the unavailability of a payload fairing for the booster that was to carry it, but the spacecraft eventually left Earth on 1 July 1994 and docked two days later. They stayed only four months to allow the Soyuz schedule to line up with the planned space shuttle manifest, and so Polyakov greeted a second resident crew in October, prior to the undocking of Soyuz TM-19, when the EO-17 crew arrived in Soyuz TM-20
Soyuz TM-20
-Crew:-Mission highlights:20th expedition to Mir.Carried 10 kg of equipment for use by Merbold in ESA’s month-long Euromir94 experiment program. During automatic approach to Mir’s front port, the...
. A few months later, Mir veteran Vladimir Titov
Vladimir Titov
Vladimir Georgiyevich Titov , Colonel, Russian Air Force, Ret., and former Russian cosmonaut was born January 1, 1947, in Sretensk, in the Zabaykalsky Krai region of Russia. He is married to the former Alexandra Kozlova of Ivanovo Region, Russia...
became the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a U.S. spacecraft flying on during STS-63.
Shuttle–Mir
Norman Thagard
Norman Earl Thagard is an American scientist and former NASA astronaut. He is the first American to ride to space on board a Russian vehicle, and can be considered the first American cosmonaut...
, arrived in Soyuz TM-21
Soyuz TM-21
Soyuz TM-21 was Soyuz mission, a human spaceflight mission transporting personnel to the Russian space station Mir. Part of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, the mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket, at 06:11:34 UTC on March 14, 1995...
. The EO-17 crew left a few days later, with Polyakov completing his record-breaking 437-day spaceflight. During EO-18, the Spektr
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
science module (which served as living and working space for American astronauts) was launched aboard a Proton rocket
Proton rocket
Proton is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965 and the launch system is still in use as of 2011, which makes it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight...
and docked to the station, carrying research equipment from America and other nations. The expedition's crew returned to Earth aboard following the first Shuttle–Mir docking mission, STS-71
STS-71
STS-71 was the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried out the first Space Shuttle docking to Mir, a Russian space station. The mission used Space Shuttle Atlantis, which lifted off from launch pad 39A on 27 June 1995 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida...
. Atlantis, launched on 27 June 1995, successfully docked with Mir on 29 June becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to dock with a Russian spacecraft since the ASTP
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
-Backup crew:-Crew notes:Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal.-Soyuz crew:...
in 1975. The orbiter delivered the EO-19
Mir EO-19
Mir EO-19 was the nineteenth manned expedition to the space station Mir, lasting from June to September 1995. The crew, consisting of Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin, launched on June 27, 1995 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-71 mission...
crew and returned the EO-18 crew to Earth. The EO-20 crew were launched on 3 September, followed in November by the arrival of the docking module during STS-74
STS-74
STS-74 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. It was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, and it carried out the second docking of a space shuttle to Mir. Atlantis lifted off for the mission on 12 November 1995 from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A,...
.
The two-man EO-21
Mir EO-21
Mir EO-21 was a long-duration mission aboard the Russian Space station Mir, which occurred between February and September 1996. The crew consisted of two Russian cosmonauts, Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Yury Usachov, as well as American astronaut Shannon Lucid...
crew was launched on 21 February 1996 aboard Soyuz TM-23
Soyuz TM-23
-Crew:-Mission highlights:25th expedition to Mir....
and were soon joined by U.S. crew member Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid
Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid is an American biochemist and a NASA astronaut. At one time, she held the record for the longest duration stay in space by an American, as well as by a woman...
, who was brought to the station by Atlantis during STS-76
STS-76
STS-76 was NASA's 76th Space Shuttle mission, and the 16th mission for Atlantis. STS-76 launched on 22 March 1996 at 3:13 am EST from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B...
. This mission saw the first joint U.S. spacewalk on Mir take place deploying the MEEP
Mir Environmental Effects Payload
The Mir Environmental Effects Payload was a set of four experiments installed on the Russian space station Mir from 1996 to 1997 to study the effects of space debris impacts and exposure to the space environment on a variety of materials...
package on the docking module. Lucid became the first American to carry out a long-duration mission aboard Mir with her 188-day mission, which set the U.S. single spaceflight record. During Lucid's time aboard Mir, Priroda
Priroda
The Priroda module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods...
, the station's final module, arrived as did French visitor Claudie Haigneré
Claudie Haigneré
Claudie Haigneré is a French doctor, politician, and former astronaut with the Centre National d'Études Spatiales and the European Space Agency ....
flying the Cassiopée mission. The flight aboard Soyuz TM-24
Soyuz TM-24
-Crew:-Mission highlights:27th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut from France.Soyuz TM-24 carried a crew of three to the Mir space station. The crew consisted of Cosmonauts Valery Korzun and Aleksandr Kaleri, and the first French woman in space, Claudie André-Deshays. They joined American...
also delivered the EO-22 crew of Valery Korzun
Valery Korzun
Valery Grigoryevich Korzun is a Russian cosmonaut of Ukrainian descent. He has been in space twice totalling 381 days. He has also conducted four career spacewalks.- Personal :...
and Aleksandr Kaleri.
Lucid's stay aboard Mir ended with the flight of Atlantis on STS-79
STS-79
STS-79 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. It was the first shuttle mission to dock with Mir once it was fully assembled.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Spacehab-Double Module **Orbiter Docking System...
, which launched on September 16. This, the fourth docking, saw John Blaha transferring onto Mir to take his place as resident U.S. astronaut. His stay on the station improved operations in several areas, including transfer procedures for a docked space shuttle, "hand-over" procedures for long duration American crew members and "ham" amateur radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
communications, and also saw two spacewalks to reconfigure the station's power grid. In all, Blaha spent four months with the EO-22 crew before returning to Earth aboard Atlantis on STS-81
STS-81
STS-81 was a January 1997 Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 92.2 min-Fifth Mir docking mission:...
in January 1997, at which point he was replaced by physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Jerry Linenger. During his flight, Linenger became the first American to conduct a spacewalk from a foreign space station and the first to test the Russian-built Orlan-M spacesuit alongside Russian cosmonaut Vasili Tsibliyev
Vasili Tsibliyev
Vasily Vasiliyevich Tsibliyev ; born on February 20, 1954) is a Russian cosmonaut.He was selected as a cosmonaut on March 26, 1987. Tsibliyev flew as Commander on Soyuz TM-17 from July 1, 1993 to January 14, 1994 and on Soyuz TM-25 from February 2, 1997 to August 14 of the same year. He retired on...
, flying EO-23. All three crew members of EO-23 performed a "fly-around" in Soyuz TM-25
Soyuz TM-25
-Crew:-Mission highlights:This was the 30th expedition to Mir. An ESA astronaut from Germany was included on the mission.Soyuz TM-25 is a Russian spacecraft that was launched to carry astronauts and supplies to Mir station...
spacecraft. Linenger and his Russian crewmates Vasili Tsibliyev and Aleksandr Lazutkin
Aleksandr Lazutkin
Aleksandr Ivanovich Lazutkin is a Russian cosmonaut.He was selected as cosmonaut on March 3, 1992. His first spaceflight was Soyuz TM-25, on which he was the flight engineer.He is married and has two children....
faced several difficulties during the mission, including the most severe fire aboard an orbiting spacecraft (caused by a malfunctioning Vika), failures of various on board systems, a near collision with Progress M-33 during a long-distance TORU test and a total loss of station electrical power. The power failure also caused a loss of attitude control, which led to an uncontrolled "tumble" through space.
Michael Foale
Colin Michael Foale, CBE, PhD is a British-American astrophysicist with dual citizenship and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six space shuttle missions and extended stays on both Mir and the International Space Station...
, carried up by Atlantis on STS-84
STS-84
STS-84 was a manned spaceflight mission by Space Shuttle Atlantis to the Mir space station.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter landing with payload: **Spacehab-DM: ** Orbiter Docking System: **Cargo delivered to Mir:...
, alongside Russian mission specialist Elena Kondakova. Foale's increment proceeded fairly normally until 25 June when during the second test of the Progress manual docking system, TORU
TORU
TORU system is a manual docking system of Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft that serves as a backup to the automatic Kurs system . It was used on the Mir, Salyut and is currently used on the International Space Station...
, Progress M-34 collided with solar arrays on the Spektr
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
module and crashed into the module's outer shell, puncturing the module and causing depressurisation on the station. Only quick actions on the part of the crew, cutting cables leading to the module and closing Spektr's hatch, prevented the crew's having to abandon the station in Soyuz TM-25
Soyuz TM-25
-Crew:-Mission highlights:This was the 30th expedition to Mir. An ESA astronaut from Germany was included on the mission.Soyuz TM-25 is a Russian spacecraft that was launched to carry astronauts and supplies to Mir station...
. Their efforts stabilised the station's air pressure, whilst the pressure in Spektr, containing many of Foale's experiments and personal effects, dropped to a vacuum. In an effort to restore some of the power and systems lost following the isolation of Spektr and to attempt to locate the leak, EO-24
Mir EO-24
-Crew:This mission was part of the Shuttle-Mir Program, in which three American astronauts flew aboard the station during Mir EO-24.Note: Léopold Eyharts joined the Soyuz TM-26 crew on the way home from Mir, after launching with Soyuz TM-27 crewmembers Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin at the...
commander Anatoly Solovyev
Anatoly Solovyev
Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev is a former Soviet pilot, cosmonaut, and Colonel. Solovyev holds the world record on the number of spacewalks performed , and accumulated time spent spacewalking .- Family :...
and flight engineer
Flight engineer
Flight engineers work in three types of aircraft: fixed-wing , rotary wing , and space flight .As airplanes became even larger requiring more engines and complex systems to operate, the workload on the two pilots became excessive during certain critical parts of the flight regime, notably takeoffs...
Pavel Vinogradov carried out a risky salvage operation later in the flight, entering the empty module during a so-called "intra-vehicular activity" or "IVA" spacewalk and inspecting the condition of hardware and running cables through a special hatch from Spektr's systems to the rest of the station. Following these first investigations, Foale and Solovyev conducted a 6-hour EVA on the surface of Spektr to inspect the damage to the punctured module.
After these incidents, the U.S. Congress and NASA considered whether to abandon the programme out of concern for the astronauts' safety, but NASA administrator Daniel Goldin
Daniel Goldin
Daniel Saul Goldin served as the 9th and longest-tenured Administrator of NASA from April 1, 1992, to November 17, 2001. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush and also served under President William Jefferson Clinton and George W...
decided to continue the programme. The next flight to Mir, STS-86
STS-86
STS-86 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. This was the last Atlantis mission before it was taken out of service temporarily for maintenance and upgrades, including the glass cockpit.-Crew:-Crew notes:...
, brought David Wolf to the station aboard Atlantis. During the orbiter's stay Titov and Parazynski conducted a spacewalk to affix a cap to the docking module for a future attempt by crew members to seal off the leak in Spektr
STS-89
STS-89 was a space shuttle mission to the Mir space station flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour, and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 22 January 1998.-Crew:-Crew notes:...
with Andy Thomas
Andy Thomas
Andrew "Andy" Sydney Withiel Thomas is an Australian-born American aerospace engineer and a NASA astronaut. He became a U.S. citizen in December 1986, hoping to gain entry to NASA's astronaut program...
, who carried out the last U.S. expedition on Mir. The EO-25 crew arrived in Soyuz TM-27
Soyuz TM-27
-Mission accomplishments:*Docked with Mir*Exchange part of crew*Carried out French mission PEGASE*Conducted routine science experiments-EVA schedule:*03.03.1998 aborted due to faulty hatch*01.04.1998 *06.04.1998 *11.04.1998...
in January 1998 before Thomas returned to Earth on the final Shuttle–Mir mission, STS-91
STS-91
STS-91 was the final Space Shuttle mission to the Mir space station. It was flown by Space Shuttle Discovery, and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 June 1998.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:...
.
Final days and deorbit
Nikolai Budarin
Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin is a Russian cosmonaut, a veteran of three extended space missions aboard the Mir Space Station and the International Space Station...
and Musabayev
Talgat Musabayev
Talgat Amangeldyuly Musabayev , is a Kazakh test pilot and former cosmonaut who flew on three spaceflights. His first two spaceflights were long-duration stays aboard the Russian space station Mir. His third spaceflight was a short duration visiting mission to the International Space Station, which...
were left aboard the station, carrying out materials experiments and the compiling of a station inventory. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Yuri Koptev, the director of the Roskosmos
Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located...
, announced on 2 July that, due to a lack of funding to keep Mir flying, the station would be deorbited in June 1999. The EO-26 crew of Gennady Padalka
Gennady Padalka
Gennady Ivanovich Padalka is a Russian Air Force officer and an RSA cosmonaut. As of June 2010, Gennady ranks sixth for career time in space due to his time on both Mir and the International Space Station....
and Sergei Avdeyev
Sergei Avdeyev
Sergei Avdeyev is a Russian engineer and cosmonaut.Avdeyev was born in Chapayevsk, Samara Oblast , Russian SFSR. He graduated from in 1979 as an engineer-physicist. From 1979 to 1987 he worked as an engineer for NPO Energiya...
arrived on 15 August in Soyuz TM-28
Soyuz TM-28
TM-28 was a Soyuz mission to the Mir space station.-Crew:-Mission Accomplishments:*Docked with Mir*Baturin is first Russian politician in space...
, alongside physicist Yuri Baturin
Yuri Baturin
Yuri Mikhailovich Baturin , is a Russian cosmonaut and former politician.Baturin graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1973, and is the former head of National Security; he is also an author in constitutional law....
, who departed with the EO-25 crew on 25 August in Soyuz TM-27
Soyuz TM-27
-Mission accomplishments:*Docked with Mir*Exchange part of crew*Carried out French mission PEGASE*Conducted routine science experiments-EVA schedule:*03.03.1998 aborted due to faulty hatch*01.04.1998 *06.04.1998 *11.04.1998...
. The crew carried out two spacewalks, one inside Spektr to reseat some power cables and another outside to set up experiments delivered by Progress M-40, which also carried a large amount of propellant to begin alterations to Mir
Zarya
Zarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...
, the first module of the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
, but delays to the new station's service module Zvezda had led to calls for Mir to be kept in orbit past 1999. Roskosmos, however, confirmed that it would not fund Mir past the set deorbit date.
The crew of EO-27, consisting of Viktor Afanasyev and Jean-Pierre Haigneré
Jean-Pierre Haigneré
Jean-Pierre Haigneré is a French Air Force officer and a former CNES astronaut.Haigneré was born in Paris, France and joined the French Air Force, where he trained as a test pilot....
arrived in Soyuz TM-29
Soyuz TM-29
Soyuz TM-29 was a Russian manned spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz 11A511U rocket. It docked with Mir on February 22 at 05:36 GMT with Cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev of Russia, Jean-Pierre Haigneré of France, and Ivan Bella of Slovakia aboard. Since two crew seats had...
on 22 February 1999 alongside Ivan Bella
Ivan Bella
Ivan Bella is a Slovak Air Force officer who became the first Slovak citizen to fly in space...
, who returned to Earth with Padalka in Soyuz TM-28. The crew carried out three EVAs to retrieve experiments and deploy a prototype communications antenna on Sofora. Meanwhile, on 1 June it was announced that the deorbit of the station would be delayed by six months to allow time to seek alternative funding to keep the station operating. The rest of the expedition was spent preparing the station for its deorbit; a special analogue computer was installed and each of the modules, starting with the docking module, was mothballed in turn and sealed off. The crew loaded their results into Soyuz TM-29 and departed Mir on 28 August 1999, ending a run of continuous occupation of the station which had lasted for eight days short of ten years. The station's gyrodynes and main computer were shut down on 7 September, leaving Progress M-42 to control Mir and refine the station's orbital decay rate.
Near the end of its life, there were plans for private interests to purchase Mir, possibly for use as the first orbital television
Television studio
A television studio is an installation in which a video productions take place, either for the recording of live television to video tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for post-production. The design of a studio is similar to, and derived from, movie studios, with a few amendments for the...
/movie studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
. The privately funded Soyuz TM-30
Soyuz TM-30
Soyuz TM-30 , also known as Mir EO-28, was a Soyuz mission, the 39th and final human spaceflight to the Mir space station. The crew of the mission was sent by MirCorp, a privately funded company, to reactivate and repair the station...
mission by MirCorp
MirCorp
MirCorp was a commercial space company created in 1999 by space entrepreneurs and involving the Russian space program that successfully undertook a number of firsts in the business of space exploration by using the aging Russian space station Mir as a commercial platform...
, launched on 4 April 2000, carried two crew members, Sergei Zalyotin
Sergei Zalyotin
Sergei Viktorovich Zalyotin is a Russian cosmonaut and a veteran of a two space missions.Zalyotin was born in Tula and attended the Borisoglebsk Higher Military School before becoming a fighter pilot in the Russian Air Force. He also holds a degree in ecological management. Zalyotin was selected...
and Aleksandr Kaleri, to the station for two months to do repair work with the hope of proving that the station could be made safe. This was, however, to be the last manned mission to Mir - while Russia was optimistic about Mirs future, its commitments to the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
project left no funding to support the aging station.
Mir
Drag (physics)
In fluid dynamics, drag refers to forces which act on a solid object in the direction of the relative fluid flow velocity...
to reduce the station's orbit
Orbital decay
Orbital decay is the process of prolonged reduction in the altitude of a satellite's orbit.This can be due to drag produced by an atmosphere due to frequent collisions between the satellite and surrounding air molecules. The drag experienced by the object is larger in the case of increased solar...
to an average of 220 kilometres (136.7 mi). This began with the docking of Progress M1-5
Progress M1-5
Progress M1-5 was the Progress spacecraft which was launched by Russia in 2001 to deorbit the fifteen-year old Mir space station before it naturally fell from orbit, potentially landing in a populated area...
, a modified version of the Progress-M
Progress-M
Progress-M , also known as Progress 7K-TGM, is a Russian, previously Soviet spacecraft which is used to resupply space stations. It is a variant of the Progress spacecraft, originally built in the late 1980s as a modernised version of the Progress 7K-TG spacecraft, using new systems developed for...
carrying 2.5 times more fuel in place of supplies. The second stage was the transfer of the station into a 165 × 220 km (103 × 137 mi) orbit. This was achieved with two burns of Progress M1-5's control engines at 00:32 UTC and 02:01 UTC on 23 March 2001. After a two-orbit pause, the third and final stage of Mirs deorbit began with the burn of Progress M1-5's control engines and main engine at 05:08 UTC, lasting a little over 22 minutes. Reentry
Atmospheric reentry
Atmospheric entry is the movement of human-made or natural objects as they enter the atmosphere of a celestial body from outer space—in the case of Earth from an altitude above the Kármán Line,...
into Earth's atmosphere
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
(100 km/60 mi AMSL) of the 15-year-old space station occurred at 05:44 UTC near Nadi
Nadi
Nadi is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. Nadi is multiracial with many of its inhabitants Indian or Fijian, along with a large transient population of foreign...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. Major destruction of the station began around 05:52 UTC and the unburned fragments fell into the South Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
around 06:00 UTC.
Visiting spacecraft
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
and Progress spacecraft
Progress spacecraft
The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is...
and had two ports available for docking these spacecraft. Initially, the fore and aft ports of the core module could be used for dockings, but following the permanent berthing of Kvant-1 to the aft port in 1987, the rear port of the new module took on this role from the core module's aft port. Each port was equipped with the plumbing required for Progress cargo ferries to replace the station's fluids and also the guidance systems needed to guide the spacecraft in for docking. Two such systems were used on Mir; the rear ports of both the core module and Kvant-1 were equipped with both the Igla
Igla (spacecraft docking system)
The IGLA docking system was a Russian radio telemetry system for automated docking of Soyuz . The first prototypes were made in late 1965. On 30 October 1967, the first automated docking of Soyuz unmanned spacecraft took place.-Problems:...
and Kurs
Kurs (docking system)
Kurs is a radio telemetry system used by the Soviet and later Russian space program.Kurs was developed by the Research Institute of Precision Instruments before 1985 and manufactured by the Kiev Radio Factory .- History :...
systems, whilst the core module's forward port featured only the newer Kurs.
Soyuz spacecraft provided manned access to and from the station allowing for crew rotations and cargo return, and also functioned as a lifeboat for the station, allowing for a relatively quick return to Earth in the event of an emergency. Two models of Soyuz flew to Mir; Soyuz T-15
Soyuz T-15
- Backup crew :- Mission parameters :* Mass: 6850 kg* Perigee: 331 km* Apogee: 366 km* Inclination: 51.6°* Period: 91.5 minutes- Mission highlights :Soyuz T-15 was the first expedition to Mir....
was the first and only Igla-equipped Soyuz-T
Soyuz-T
The Soyuz-T spacecraft was the third generation Soyuz spacecraft, in service for seven years from 1979 to 1986. The T stood for transport...
to visit the station, whilst all other flights used the newer, Kurs-equipped Soyuz-TM
Soyuz-TM
The Soyuz-TM crew transports were fourth generation Soyuz spacecraft used for ferry flights to the Mir and ISS space stations...
. A total of 31 (30 manned, 1 unmanned
Soyuz TM-1
Soyuz TM-1 was an unmanned test flight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, intended for use in the Mir space station program. This was the maiden flight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, intended as the successor to the Soyuz-T spacecraft used in the Salyut program....
) Soyuz spacecraft flew to the station over a fourteen year period.
The unmanned Progress cargo vehicles were only used to resupply the station, carrying a variety of cargoes including water, fuel, food and experimental equipment. The spacecraft were not equipped with reentry shielding and so, unlike their Soyuz counterparts, were incapable of surviving reentry. As a result, when its cargoes had been unloaded, each Progress was refilled with rubbish, spent equipment and other waste which was destroyed, along with the Progress itself, on reentry. However, in order to facilitate cargo return, ten Progress flights carried Raduga
VBK-Raduga
The VBK-Raduga capsule is a reentry capsule that was used for returning materials to Earth's surface from the space station Mir. They were brought to Mir in the Progress-M cargo craft's dry cargo compartment...
capsules, which could return around 150 kg of experimental results to Earth automatically. Mir was visited by three separate models of Progress; the original 7K-TG
Progress 7K-TG
Progress 7K-TG , was a Soviet unmanned spacecraft used to resupply space stations in low Earth orbit. Forty three flew, delivering cargo to Salyut 6, Salyut 7, and Mir...
variant equipped with Igla (18 flights), the Progress-M
Progress-M
Progress-M , also known as Progress 7K-TGM, is a Russian, previously Soviet spacecraft which is used to resupply space stations. It is a variant of the Progress spacecraft, originally built in the late 1980s as a modernised version of the Progress 7K-TG spacecraft, using new systems developed for...
model equipped with Kurs (43 flights), and the modified Progress-M1
Progress-M1
Progress-M1 , also known as Progress 7K-TGM1, is a Russian spacecraft which is used to resupply space stations. It is a variant of the Progress spacecraft, derived from the Progress-M, but modified to carry more propellent for refuelling the space station instead of other cargoes such as water...
version (3 flights), which together flew a total of sixty-four resupply missions to the station. Whilst the vast majority of the Progress spacecraft docked automatically without incident, the station was equipped with a remote manual docking system, TORU
TORU
TORU system is a manual docking system of Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft that serves as a backup to the automatic Kurs system . It was used on the Mir, Salyut and is currently used on the International Space Station...
, in case problems were encountered during the automatic approaches. With TORU cosmonauts could guide the spacecraft safely in to dock (with the exception of the catastrophic docking of Progress M-34, when the long-range use of the system resulted in the spacecraft's striking the station, damaging Spektr and causing decompression).
In addition to the routine Soyuz and Progress flights, it was anticipated that Mir would also be the destination for flights by the Soviet Buran space shuttle, which was intended to deliver extra modules (based on the same "37K" bus
Satellite bus
A satellite bus or spacecraft bus is the general model on which multiple-production satellite spacecraft are often based. The bus is the infrastructure of a spacecraft, usually providing locations for the payload .They are most commonly used for geosynchronous satellites, particularly...
as Kvant-1) and provide a much improved cargo return service to the station. Kristall
Kristall
The Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket...
carried two Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
The Androgynous Peripheral Attach System, or Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System, is a spacecraft docking mechanism used on the International Space Station. It is used to dock the Space Shuttle orbiter and to connect the Functional Cargo Block to Pressurized Mating Adapter-1...
(APAS-89) docking ports designed to be compatible with the shuttle. One of these ports was to be used for Buran dockings with the other providing a berthing location for the planned Pulsar X-2 telescope, also to be delivered by Buran. The cancellation of the Buran programme, however, meant these capabilities were not realised until the 1990s when the ports were used instead by U.S. Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
s as part of the Shuttle-Mir programme (after testing by the specially modified Soyuz TM-16
Soyuz TM-16
-Crew:-Mission highlights:16th expedition to Mir.First Soyuz without a probe and drogue docking system since 1976. It carriedan APAS-89 androgynous docking unit different from the APAS-75 unit used for ASTP in 1975, yet similar in general principles. Soyuz-TM 16 used it to dock with an androgynous...
in 1993). Initially, visiting orbiters
Space Shuttle Orbiter
The Space Shuttle orbiter was the orbital spacecraft of the Space Shuttle program operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. The orbiter was a reusable winged "space-plane", a mixture of rockets, spacecraft, and aircraft...
docked directly to Kristall, but this required the relocation of the module to ensure sufficient distance between the shuttle and Mir
Mir Docking Module
The Stykovochnyy Otsek , GRAU index 316GK, otherwise known as the Mir docking module or SO, was the sixth module of the Russian space station Mir, launched in November 1995 aboard the...
was later added to the end of Kristall. The shuttles provided crew rotation of the American astronauts on station and carried cargo to and from the station, performing some of the largest transfers of cargo of the time. With a space shuttle docked to Mir, the temporary enlargements of living and working areas amounted to a complex that was the largest spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
in history at that time, with a combined mass of 250 tonne.
Mission control centre
Mir and the spacecraft visiting the station were controlled from the Russian mission control centreMission Control Center
A mission control center is an entity that manages aerospace vehicle flights, usually from the point of lift-off until the landing or the end of the mission. A staff of flight controllers and other support personnel monitor all aspects of the mission using telemetry, and send commands to the...
in Korolyov
Korolyov (city)
Korolyov or Korolev is an industrial city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, well known as the cradle of Soviet and Russian space exploration. It was originally founded as Kaliningrad in 1938 by Vasily Boldyrev, Naum Nosovsky, and Mikhail Loginov as the leading Soviet center for production of anti-tank...
, near the RKK Energia plant. Referred to by its acronym ЦУП ("TsUP"), or simply as 'Moscow', the facility could process data from up to ten spacecraft in three separate control rooms, although each control room was dedicated to a single programme; one to Mir; one to Soyuz; and one to the Soviet space shuttle Buran (which was later converted for use with the ISS). The facility is now used to control the Russian Orbital Segment
Russian Orbital Segment
The Russian Orbital Segment is the name given to the components of the International Space Station constructed in Russia and operated by the Russian Federal Space Agency...
of the ISS. The flight control team were assigned roles similar to the system used by NASA at their mission control centre in Houston, including:
- The Flight Director, who provided policy guidance and communicated with the mission management team.
- The Flight Shift Director, who was responsible for real-time decisions within a set of flight rules,
- The Mission Deputy Shift Manager (MDSM) for the MCC was responsible for the control room's consoles, computers and peripherals,
- The MDSM for Ground Control was responsible for communications,
- The MDSM for Crew Training was similar to NASA's 'capcom,' or capsule communicator. This person generally had served as the Mir crew's lead trainer.
Ageing systems and atmosphere
In the later years of the programme, particularly during the Shuttle-Mir programme, Mir suffered from various systems failures as the station aged. The station was originally designed to fly for five years but eventually flew for three times that length of time, and in the 1990s was showing its age—constant computer crashes, loss of power, uncontrolled tumbles through space and leaking pipes were an ever-present concern for crews. NASA astronaut John Blaha's account of the air quality on Mir - "very healthy, – it's not dry, it's not humid. Nothing smells." - contradicts sharply the concerns about air quality on the space station that Jerry Linenger relates in his book about his time on the facility. Linenger says that due to the age of the space station, the cooling system on board had developed a plethora of tiny leaks too small and numerous to be repaired, that permitted the constant release of coolantCoolant
A coolant is a fluid which flows through a device to prevent its overheating, transferring the heat produced by the device to other devices that use or dissipate it. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, and chemically inert, neither causing nor...
, making it unpleasant to breathe the air on board. He says that it was especially noticeable after he had made a spacewalk and become used to the clean air he had been breathing in his spacesuit. When he returned to the station and again began breathing the air inside Mir, he was deeply shocked by the intensity of the chemical smell and very worried about the possible negative health effects of breathing such heavily contaminated air.
Various breakdowns of Mirs Elektron oxygen-generating system were also a concern. These breakdowns led crews to become increasingly reliant on the backup Vika solid-fuel oxygen generator
Chemical oxygen generator
A chemical oxygen generator is a device releasing oxygen created by a chemical reaction. The oxygen source is usually an inorganic superoxide, chlorate, or perchlorate. A promising group of oxygen sources are ozonides. The generators are usually ignited mechanically, by a firing pin, and the...
(SFOG) systems, responsible for the fire during the handover between EO-22 and EO-23.
Accidents
Kristall
The Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket...
and Soyuz TM-17
Soyuz TM-17
Soyuz TM-17 was a Russian mission to the space station Mir, launched on July 1, 1993. It lasted 196 days and 17 hours, making more than 3,000 orbits of the planet Earth.-Crew:-Mission highlights:...
during proximity operations in January 1994. The three most alarming incidents, however, occurred during EO-23. The first of these, on 23 February 1997 during the handover period from EO-22 to EO-23, followed a malfunction in one of the station's backup Vika solid-fuel oxygen generator
Chemical oxygen generator
A chemical oxygen generator is a device releasing oxygen created by a chemical reaction. The oxygen source is usually an inorganic superoxide, chlorate, or perchlorate. A promising group of oxygen sources are ozonides. The generators are usually ignited mechanically, by a firing pin, and the...
(SFOG) systems. The Vika malfunction led to a fire which burned for around 90 seconds (according to official sources at the TsUP; astronaut Jerry Linenger
Jerry M. Linenger
Jerry Michael Linenger, M.D., M.S.S.M., M.P.H., Ph.D. is a former NASA astronaut, who flew on the Space Shuttle and Space Station Mir.-Background:...
, however, insists the fire burned for around 14 minutes), and produced large amounts of toxic smoke that filled the station for around 45 minutes. This forced the crew to don respirators, but some of the respirator masks initially worn were broken. Some of the fire extinguisher
Fire extinguisher
A fire extinguisher or extinguisher, flame entinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations...
s mounted on the walls of the newer modules were immovable.
The other two accidents which occurred during EO-23 concerned testing of the station's TORU
TORU
TORU system is a manual docking system of Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft that serves as a backup to the automatic Kurs system . It was used on the Mir, Salyut and is currently used on the International Space Station...
manual docking system to manually dock Progress M-33 and Progress M-34. The tests were called in order to gauge the performance of long-distance docking in order to enable the cash-strapped Russians to remove the expensive Kurs
Kurs (docking system)
Kurs is a radio telemetry system used by the Soviet and later Russian space program.Kurs was developed by the Research Institute of Precision Instruments before 1985 and manufactured by the Kiev Radio Factory .- History :...
automatic docking system from Progress spacecraft. However, for reasons which were never fully understood, both tests failed, with Progress M-33 narrowly missing the station and Progress M-34 striking Spektr
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
and puncturing the module, causing the station to depressurise and leading to Spektr being permanently sealed off. This in turn led to a power crisis aboard Mir as the module's solar arrays produced a large proportion of the station's electrical supply, causing the station to power down and begin to drift, requiring weeks of work to rectify before work could continue as normal.
Radiation and orbital debris
Without the protection of the Earth's atmosphere, cosmonauts were exposed to higher levels of radiationRadiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
from a steady flux of cosmic ray
Cosmic ray
Cosmic rays are energetic charged subatomic particles, originating from outer space. They may produce secondary particles that penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and surface. The term ray is historical as cosmic rays were thought to be electromagnetic radiation...
s and trapped protons from the South Atlantic Anomaly
South Atlantic Anomaly
The South Atlantic Anomaly is an area where the Earth's inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to the Earth's surface. This leads to an increased flux of energetic particles in this region and exposes orbiting satellites to higher than usual levels of radiation...
. The station's crews were exposed to an absorbed dose
Absorbed dose
Absorbed dose is a measure of the energy deposited in a medium by ionizing radiation per unit mass...
of about 5.2 cGy
Gray (unit)
The gray is the SI unit of absorbed radiation dose of ionizing radiation , and is defined as the absorption of one joule of ionizing radiation by one kilogram of matter ....
over the course of a 115-day expedition, producing an equivalent dose
Equivalent dose
The equivalent absorbed radiation dose, usually shortened to equivalent dose, is a computed average measure of the radiation absorbed by a fixed mass of biological tissue, that attempts to account for the different biological damage potential of different types of ionizing radiation...
of 14.75 cSv
Sievert
The sievert is the International System of Units SI derived unit of dose equivalent radiation. It attempts to quantitatively evaluate the biological effects of ionizing radiation as opposed to just the absorbed dose of radiation energy, which is measured in gray...
, or 1133 µSv per day. This is approximately half of that received from natural background radiation
Background radiation
Background radiation is the ionizing radiation constantly present in the natural environment of the Earth, which is emitted by natural and artificial sources.-Overview:Both Natural and human-made background radiation varies by location....
on Earth in a year. The radiation environment of the station was not uniform, however; closer proximity to the station's hull led to an increased radiation dose, and the strength of radiation shielding varied between modules; Kvant-2's being better than the core module, for instance.
The increased radiation levels result in a higher risk of crews developing cancer, and can cause damage to the chromosomes of lymphocytes. These cells are central to the immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
and so any damage to them could contribute to the lowered immunity
Immunity (medical)
Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
experienced by cosmonauts. Over time, lowered immunity results in the spread of infection between crew members, especially in such confined areas. Radiation has also been linked to a higher incidence of cataracts in cosmonauts. Protective shielding and protective drugs may lower the risks to an acceptable level, but data is scarce and longer-term exposure will result in greater risks.
At the low altitudes at which Mir orbited there is a variety of space debris
Space debris
Space debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, is the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These objects consist of everything from spent rocket stages and defunct satellites to erosion, explosion...
, consisting of everything from entire spent rocket stages and defunct satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s, to explosion fragments, paint flakes, slag from solid rocket motors, coolant released by RORSAT
RORSAT
Radar Ocean Reconnaissance SATellite or RORSAT is the western name given to the Soviet Upravlyaemyj Sputnik Aktivnyj satellites. These satellites were launched between 1967 and 1988 to monitor NATO and merchant vessels using active radar...
nuclear powered satellites, small needles
Project West Ford
Project West Ford was a test carried out by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory on behalf of the United States Military in 1961 and 1963 to create an artificial ionosphere above the Earth...
, and many other objects. These objects, in addition to natural micrometeoroid
Micrometeoroid
A micrometeoroid is a tiny meteoroid; a small particle of rock in space, usually weighing less than a gram. A micrometeor or micrometeorite is such a particle that enters the Earth's atmosphere or falls to Earth.-Scientific interest:...
s, posed a threat to the station as they have the ability to puncture pressurised modules and cause damage to other parts of the station, such as the solar arrays. Micrometeoroids also posed a risk to spacewalking
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
cosmonauts, as such objects could puncture their spacesuits
Space exposure
Space exposure is the subjection of a human to the conditions of outer space, without protective clothing and beyond the Earth’s atmosphere in a vacuum.-Explanation and history:...
, causing them to depressurise. Meteor showers in particular posed a significant risk to the station, and, during such storms, the crews slept in their Soyuz ferries to facilitate an emergency evacuation should Mir be damaged.