Mir Landmarks On February 20, 1986, the Soviet Union announced the launch of its new space station called Mir (which means "peace" and "world" in Russian). A 20-ton core module with six docking ports for a transport craft and add-on modules became the first piece of the space colony, which would be constructed over the next decade and endure to set several records in space history. Below are highlights from Mir's long life:
March 13, 1986 -- The first crew, Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Soloviev, is launched to Mir.
March 1987 -- Mir's second component, the Kvant 1 module, arrives at the station. Crew members Yuri Romanenko and Alexander Laveikin conduct a spacewalk to remove trash (left behind by a previous cargo ship) blocking the port and the docking is completed.
December 1988 -- French astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien, on a month-long mission aboard Mir, conducts the first non-U.S./non-Russian spacewalk.
December 1989 -- The Kvant 2 module docks to Mir on its second attempt. The module furnishes Mir with a large airlock.
June 1990 -- The Kristall module, carrying materials-processing equipment, successfully docks with Mir after some rendezvous glitches.
December 1990 -- In the first major effort to commercialize Mir, a crew -- including Japanese cosmonaut-reporter Toyohiro Akiyama -- visits the station. Akiyama conducts live reports from Mir for a Tokyo-based television channel.
January 1991 -- Mir's crew installs a 46-foot (14-meter) boom called Strela (Arrow) on the exterior of the station, which will later serve as a crane used for transferring cargo and crew members around construction and repair areas on the outpost.
March 1991 -- A robotic Progress cargo ship loses control during its final approach to the station, nearly colliding with Mir.
While Mir operations continue as usual, on Earth below, the Soviet Union collapses.
March 1995 -- The first American astronaut to visit Mir, Norman Thagard, arrives aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. Russian cosmonaut
returns from Mir after a 438-day mission, the longest human spaceflight ever.June 1995 -- The Spektr module docks with Mir. It carries U.S. equipment for medical experiments. A solar panel on the module fails to deploy, requiring a spacewalk to finish the job.
After 105 days in orbit, a U.S. space shuttle docks with the station's Kristall module, creating a 209-ton complex in space.
March 1996 -- Space Shuttle Atlantis drops off NASA-astronaut Shannon Lucid for a 179-day mission on Mir. Her stay sets a U.S. record for long-duration spaceflight.
April 1996 -- The Priroda module, carrying primarily remote-sensing equipment, docks with the complex, finally completing the assembly of the space station.
February 1997 -- A lithium "candle" used to generate oxygen sparks a fire onboard the station. It takes the crew more than an hour to extinguish the fire.
June 1997 -- During a manual docking test, a 7-ton Progress cargo ship veers off course and collides with the Spektr module, causing a loss of air pressure. The crew inside, including commander Vasily Tsibliev, flight engineer Alexander Lazutkin and U.S. astronaut Michael Foale, manages to sever the cables leading to the module and seal it off before pressure inside the station falls dangerously low.
July 1998 -- Russian space agency chief Yuri Koptev and then Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov sign a document that initiates a plan to deorbit Mir.
August 1999 -- Mir is abandoned by two cosmonauts and a French astronaut during the 27th human expedition due to a lack of government funding to continue its piloted operations.
January 2000 -- U.S. entrepreneur Walt Anderson makes a commitment to put up $20 million to start MirCorp, a private company to finance continued human missions to the station. MirCorp reaches an agreement to lease Mir.
April 2000 -- Two cosmonauts are flown to Mir on the first commercial mission funded by MirCorp. The mission concludes in June.
June 2000 -- California businessman Dennis Tito announces he plans to spend $20 million to become the first tourist aboard Mir.
September 2000 -- Producer Mark Barnett announces development of Destination Mir -- a TV show that would send a contest winner to the space station.
November 2000 -- The Russian space agency, claiming a lack of funds from MirCorp, announces Mir will be brought out of orbit and plunged into the Pacific Ocean in February 2001.
December 2000 -- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed a decree to deorbit the aging Mir space station. Tito starts planning for a trip instead to the International Space Station.
January 2001 -- The deorbit is delayed until March 2001.
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