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Mir
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{| class="toccolours" style="width: 25em; float: right; clear: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;"
|+ style="margin-left: inherit; font-size: larger;" | '''Mir (Space Station)'''
|-
!colspan="2" style="text-align: center; background: #FFDEAD;" | '''Mission insignia'''
|-
|colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" |
Image:Mir insignia.jpg 200px|Mir InsigniaMir insignia
|-
!colspan="2" style="text-align: center; background: #FFDEAD;" | Mission statistics
|-
|'''Mission name'''||Mir
|-
|'''Call sign'''||Mir
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''Launch'''||
February 19,
198621:28:23
Coordinated Universal Time UTCBaikonur, USSR
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''Reentry'''||
March 23,
200105:50:00 UTC
|-
|'''Crew'''||28 long duration crews
|-
|'''Occupied'''||4,594 days
|-
|'''In orbit'''||5,511 days
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''Number of
Orbits'''||89,067
|-
|'''Apogee'''||393 km /244 mi
|-
|'''Perigee'''||385 km /239 mi
|-
|'''Period'''||89.1 min
|-
|'''Inclination'''||51.6 deg
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''Distance
traveled'''||3,638,470,307 km / 2,260,840,632 mi
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''Orbital mass
w/Spektr, Kristal, etc.'''|| 124,340 kg
|-
!colspan="2" style="text-align: center; background: #FFDEAD;" | Configuration
|-
|colspan="2" align=center |
Image:Mir module.jpg 250px|Mir
|-
!colspan="2" style="text-align: center; background: #FFDEAD;" | Mir space station
|}
'''Mir''' (Мир, which can mean both ''world'' and ''peace'' in
Russian language Russian) was a highly successful
Soviet Union Soviet (and later
Russian)
space station. It was humanity's first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space. Through a number of collaborations, it was made internationally accessible to
cosmonauts and
astronauts of many different countries. Mir was assembled in orbit by successively connecting several modules, each launched separately from
February 19,
1986 to 1996. The station existed until
March 23,
2001, at which point it was deliberately de-orbited and broke apart during
atmospheric re-entry.
{|
|__NOTOC__ __TOC__
|}
History
Image:Mir on 24 September 1996.jpg thumb|left|200px|Fully constructed space station Mir in 1996
Mir was based upon the
Salyut series of space stations previously launched by the Soviet Union (seven Salyut space stations had been launched since 1971). It was mainly serviced by Russian-manned
Soyuz spacecraft and
Progress spacecraft Progress cargo ships, but it was anticipated that it would also be the destination for flights by the later abandoned
Buran space shuttle. The orbiting Mir's purpose was to provide a large and livable scientific laboratory in outer space.
The United States had planned to build
Space Station Freedom as its counterpart to Mir, but this project was cancelled after the fall of the Soviet Union made an international cooperation possible (see
International Space Station). Also, the
space shuttle Challenger exploded less than a month before Mir was launched into orbit (see
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster). In later years, after the end of the
Cold War, the
Shuttle-Mir program combined Russia's Mir capabilities with
United States space shuttles and allowed a couple of American and other western astronauts to visit or stay long-term on the station. The visiting US shuttles used a modified docking collar originally designed for the Soviet Buran shuttle, mounted on a bracket originally designed for use with Space Station Freedom.
With the space shuttle docked to Mir the temporary enlargements of living and working areas amounted to a complex that was the world's largest
spacecraft at that time in space history, with a combined mass of 250 tons.
Image:Mir reentry photo.jpg March 23.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|left|200px|Mir space station breaking up in Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific on [[March 23,
2001..html" title="Meaning of left|200px|Mir space station breaking up in Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific on [[March 23">thumb|left|200px|Mir space station breaking up in Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific on [[March 23,
2001.">left|200px|Mir space station breaking up in Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific on [[March 23">thumb|left|200px|Mir space station breaking up in Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific on [[March 23,
2001.
Inside, the 100-ton Mir looked like a cramped
labyrinth, crowded with hoses, cables and scientific instruments – as well as articles of everyday life, such as photos, children's drawings, books and a guitar. It commonly housed three crewmembers, but it sometimes supported as many as six for up to a month. Except for two short periods, Mir was continuously occupied until August 1999.
The journey of the 15-year-old Russian space station ended
March 23,
2001, as Mir re-entered the
Earth's atmosphere near
Nadi,
Fiji, and fell into the South
Pacific Ocean. Near the end of its life, there were plans for private interests to purchase Mir, possibly for use as the first orbital television/movie studio, but the station was deemed too unstable to be safely used any further. Many in the space community still felt that at least some of Mir was salvageable and that considering the extremely high costs of getting material into orbit, simply disposing of Mir was a seriously wasted opportunity.
In addition to Soviet/Russian cosmonauts, Mir hosted international scientists and U.S. astronauts.
Mir modules
The Mir space station was constructed by connecting several Mir modules, each launched into orbit separately by the
Proton rocket, except for the ''Docking Module'', which was brought to ''Mir'' by the
Space Shuttle.
{| border="1" cellpadding="4" align="center" cellspacing="0" style="background: #f9f9f9; color: black; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Module
! Launch Date
! Launch vehicle
! Docking Date
! Mass
!
Soyuz program Soyuz
! Purpose
|-
| Core
|
February 19,
1986
|
Proton rocket Proton 8K82K
| N/A
| 20,100 kg
| N/A
| Living Quarters
|-
| Kvant-1
|
March 31,
1987
|
Proton rocket Proton 8K82K
| ~
April 9,
1987
| 10,000 kg
|
Soyuz TM-2 TM-2
|
Astronomy
|-
| Kvant-2
|
November 26,
1989
|
Proton rocket Proton 8K82K
|
December 6,
1989
| 19,640 kg
|
Soyuz TM-8 TM-8
| Newer, more sophisticated life support systems.
|-
| Kristall
|
May 31,
1990
|
Proton rocket Proton 8K82K
|
June 10,
1990
| 19,640 kg
|
Soyuz TM-9 TM-9
| Technology, material processing,
geophysics and
astrophysics laboratory
|-
| Spektr
|
May 20,
1995
|
Proton rocket Proton 8K82K
|
June 1,
1995
| 19,640 kg
|
Soyuz TM-21 TM-21
| House experiments for the US-Soviet Cooperation program.
|-
| Docking Module
|
November 12,
1995
|
STS-74 Space Shuttle Atlantis Atlantis
|
November 15,
1995
| 6,134 kg
|
Soyuz TM-22 TM-22
| Used as a docking port for the Space Shuttle.
|-
| Priroda
|
April 23,
1996
|
Proton rocket Proton 8K82K
|
April 26,
1996
| 19,000 kg
|
Soyuz TM-23 TM-23
| Remote sensing module
|}
Core Module
The '''Core Module''' provided living quarters and station control. It was equipped with six docking ports, and it served as a core of the multi-modular space station. It was launched on
February 19,
1986 at 21:28
Coordinated Universal Time UTC from
Baikonur Baikonur LC200 with a
Proton rocket Proton 8K82K. Its initial orbit had a
Perigee of 387 km and
Apogee of 395 km. The inclination was 51.6 deg for the duration of the station (and is the same for the
International Space Station). The initial
Orbital period period was 92.4 min.
Although the Core Module resembled ''
Salyut 6'' and ''
Salyut 7'', there was also major differences between them. Because most of the additional instruments can be placed onboard "add-on" modules, much of the scientific equipment found on ''Salyut'' space stations were absent. It is equipped with six docking ports, and it served as a core of the later multi-modular space station.
Kvant-1
'''Kvant-1''' (means "quantum") was originally planned to dock with ''Salyut 7'' , Mir's predecessor. The module experienced technical problems during its development, however, and it was reassigned for ''Mir''. The module carried the first set of six
Momentum wheel gyroscopes for altitude control. The module also carried instruments for
X-ray and
ultraviolet astrophysics astrophysical observation.
The initial rendezvous of the '''Kvant-1''' module with Mir on
April 5 1987 was troubled by the failure of the onboard control system. After the failure of the second attempt to dock, the onboard cosmonauts conducted a spacewalk to fix the problem. They found a trash bag between the module and the station, which prevented the docking. The bag somehow made its way into the cargo before launch. They removed the bag and completed docking on
April 12.
Kvant-2
The '''Kvant-2''' module was based on a
TKS spacecraft TKS transport spacecraft. It contained scientific instruments and the crew's shower. It also contained a second set of
gyroscopes that was mounted on the exterior of the spacecraft, and a new
life support system for recycling water and generating oxygen.
It was divided into three sections. One of them was a large airlock featuring a one-metre hatch. It was used for conducting spacewalks and thus contained a special backpack. Its size and functions are similar to the US
Manned Maneuvering Unit.
Kristall
'''Kristall''' (meaning "crystal" in russian) was a technology, material processing,
geophysics and
astrophysics laboratory.
The main porpose of the Kristall module was to serve as a docking port for the Soviet's
Buran-class space shuttle. This never happend as the Soviet's space shuttle program was terminated in the 1990s, and the module was used later to serve as the docking port of the American Space Shuttle instead.
Other equipments included the Crater-V electrical furnace, the Svetlana experiment, and the experiments Buket, Marina and Glazar. The Crater-V electrical furnace was designed for the porpose of creating high quality
gallium arsenide and
zinc oxide crystals. The Svetlana experiment included a small greenhouse for the cultivation of plants, equipped with a source of light and a feeding system. Finally, the experiments Buket, Marina and Glazar were designed for ultraviolet astronomy observations.
Spektr
'''Spektr''' served as the living and working space for American astronauts. The module moved positions on the station on
July 17,
1995 to its final position by the robotic arm aboard the station.
Docking Module
During the
STS-71 mission,
Space Shuttle Atlantis Atlantis docked directly with the Kristall module, using the docking port intended for the Soviet era Buran shuttle. In order to provide sufficent clearance between the shuttle and Mir's solar arrays, the Kristall module had to be shifted from its usual position to Mir's axial docking port. This left only one docking port for use by Soyuz or Progress vehicles, preventing Mir from recieving supplies, exchanging crews, or replacing a docked Soyuz. The '''Docking Module''' was attacked to Krystall's docking port and provided enough clearance for a shuttle to dock with Mir without moving Kristall or coming too close to the station's solar arrays.
Priroda
'''Priroda''' conducted Earth remote sensing.
Before, during and after the ''Shuttle-Mir Program'', ''Mir'' was tended and resupplied by manned '''Soyuz''' capsules and unmanned '''Progress''' cargo vehicles.
Names
Image:Moonmir sts91 big.jpg Moon.html" title="Meaning of right right|thumb|250px|Mir and the [[Moon, two satellites of the Earth.html" title="Meaning of thumb|250px|Mir and the [[Moon">right|thumb|250px|Mir and the [[Moon, two satellites of the Earth">thumb|250px|Mir and the [[Moon">right|thumb|250px|Mir and the [[Moon, two satellites of the Earth
In Russian, ''Mir'' (Мир) means "peace," and connotes "community." ''Kvant'' (Квант) means "
quantum," a name derived from its purpose to provide research in
astrophysics by measuring
electromagnetic spectrum electromagnetic spectra and
x-ray emission emissions. ''Kristall'' (КриÑ?талл) means "
crystal," and a main purpose of this module is to develop biological and materials-production technologies in the space environment. ''Spektr'' (Спектр) means "
spectrum (disambiguation) spectrum," so named for its
Earth's atmosphere atmospheric sensor sensors. ''Priroda'' (Природа) means "nature." ''Progress'' (ПрогреÑ?Ñ?) means the same as it does in English. ''Soyuz'' (Союз) means "union," so named for the USSR (Sovietskii Soyuz, СоветÑ?кий Союз = Soviet Union) and because the spacecraft was a union of three smaller modules.
Before the
Russian Revolution of 1917 Russian Revolution a "mir" was a piece of land worked by a community of
peasants. There was very strong social pressure against peasants leaving the land, because
taxes were levied on the mir as a whole. If some peasants left, the remaining peasants would have to pay more per person.
International cooperation
Image:mirdream sts76.jpg Space Shuttle Atlantis.html" title="Meaning of left left|thumb|225px|This image was recorded by astronauts as the [[Space Shuttle Atlantis approached the Russian space station prior to docking during the
STS-76 mission. Sporting spindly appendages and solar panels, Mir is seen orbiting about 350 kilometers above
New Zealand's
South Island and the city of
Nelson, New Zealand Nelson near Cook Strait..html" title="Meaning of thumb|225px|This image was recorded by astronauts as the [[Space Shuttle Atlantis">left|thumb|225px|This image was recorded by astronauts as the [[Space Shuttle Atlantis approached the Russian space station prior to docking during the
STS-76 mission. Sporting spindly appendages and solar panels, Mir is seen orbiting about 350 kilometers above
New Zealand's
South Island and the city of
Nelson, New Zealand Nelson near Cook Strait.">thumb|225px|This image was recorded by astronauts as the [[Space Shuttle Atlantis">left|thumb|225px|This image was recorded by astronauts as the [[Space Shuttle Atlantis approached the Russian space station prior to docking during the
STS-76 mission. Sporting spindly appendages and solar panels, Mir is seen orbiting about 350 kilometers above
New Zealand's
South Island and the city of
Nelson, New Zealand Nelson near Cook Strait.
In September 1993 U.S. Vice-president
Al Gore and Russian prime minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin announced plans for a new space station, which would later be called the
International Space Station, or ISS. They also agreed that, in preparation for this new project, the U.S. would be largely involved in the Mir project in the years ahead, under the code name Phase One (the ISS being Phase Two). Space shuttles would take part in the transportation of supplies and people to and from Mir. U.S. astronauts would live on Mir for many months on end. Thus the U.S. could share and learn from the unique experience that Russia had with long duration space trips.
Image:Atlantis Docked to Mir.jpg thumb|200px|right|The American Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' docked to the Russian ''Mir'' Space Station
Starting from March 1995 seven U.S. astronauts consecutively spent 28 months on Mir. During their stay the space station went through rough times and several acute emergencies occurred, notably a large fire on
February 23 1997, and a collision with a Progress (unmanned) cargo ship on
June 25 1997. In both occasions complete evacuation (there was a Soyuz escape craft for return to earth) was avoided by a narrow margin. The second disaster left a hole in the Spektr module, which then was sealed off from the rest of the station. Several
space walks were needed to restore full power to Mir (ironically, one of the "space walks" was inside the Spektr module from which all the air had escaped).
The cooperation between the U.S. and Russia proved far from easy. Distrust, lack of coordination, language problems, different views of each others' responsibilities and divergent interests caused many problems. After the emergencies, the
United States Congress U.S. Congress and
NASA considered whether the U.S. should abandon the program out of concern for astronauts' safety. NASA administrator
Daniel S. Goldin decided to continue the program. In June 1998, the final U.S. Mir astronaut
Andy Thomas, who was actually an Australian, left the station aboard the
Space Shuttle Discovery.
The story of Phase One is described in great detail by
Bryan Burrough in his book ''
Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis Aboard Mir'' (1998).
The Mir space station was originally planned to be followed by a Mir 2, and elements of that project, including the core module (now called
ISS Zvezda Zvezda) which was labeled as "Mir-2" for quite some time in the factory, are now an integral part of the International Space Station.
Mir in popular culture
* Two amateur radio call signs were assigned to Mir in the late 1980s, allowing radio operators on Earth to communicate with the cosmonauts. One of the call signs was U2MIR, U being a letter that Soviet call signs could begin with.
* The station played a prominent role as a refueling depot in
Michael Bay's 1998 movie
Armageddon (film) Armageddon (although it was referred to simply as the "Russian Space Station"). The station was "destroyed" in the movie following a fuel leak during the refueling. The lone Russian cosmonaut was said to have been on MIR for the prior 18 months.
* The station served a minor role as a refuge for S. R. Hadden in the 1997 movie adaptation of
Contact_(film) Contact.
* A
confidence trickster
Peter Rodney Llewellyn Peter Llewellyn almost got a free ride on Mir in 1999 promising $100m for the privilege.
* In the
South Park episode "
Pink Eye (South Park episode) Pink Eye",
Kenny McCormick Kenny's first death in the episode is that of Mir crashing on his body.
* In the pilot episode of the television show
Dead Like Me, the main character dies from being struck by a falling toilet seat from Mir.
* In anticipation of the reentry of Mir, the owners of
Taco Bell towed a large target out into the Pacific Ocean. If the target was hit by a falling piece of Mir, every person in the United States would be entitled to a free Taco Bell taco. No piece of the station struck the target.
* Popular American author Jeremy Schwendiman used the name Mir for his island of peace in his novel "
The Battle of Otok"
Expeditions, spacewalks and crews
*
List of Mir Expeditions''
*
List of Mir spacewalks''
*
List of Mir visiting spacecrafts and crews
*See also:
List of spacewalks
See also
*
Space station for statistics of occupied space stations
*
Salyut
*
Skylab
*
Soyuz spacecraft Soyuz
*
Progress spacecraft Progress
*
International Space Station
*Asteroid
11881 Mirstation was named after the space station.
*
Shuttle-Mir Program
References
-
Mir Hardware Heritage - NASA report (PDF format)
-
Mir Mission Chronicle - NASA report (PDF format)
-
Mir-Shuttle:Phase 1 Program Joint Report (PDF format)
-
Soviet Space Stations as Analogs - NASA report (PDF format)
External links
{{commonscat|Mir}}
-
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir.html Site contains detailed diagrams, pictures and background info.
-
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/mirodule.htm Site describes the Mir-Shuttle Docking Module
{{start box}}
{{succession box | before=
Salyut 7 | title=Mir program | years=1986–2001 | after=
International Space Station}}
{{end box}}
{{Russian manned space programs}}
{{US manned space programs}}
Category:Mir
Category:Space stations
Category:Manned spacecraft
Category:Big Science
Category:Soviet space program
ca:Mir
cs:Mir
da:Mir (rumstation)
de:Mir (Raumstation)
et:Mir (orbitaaljaam)
es:Mir
fr:Mir
ko:미르
id:Mir
it:Mir
he:מיר
lt:Mir
hu:Mir űrállomás
nl:Mir
ja:ミール
no:Mir
nn:Mir
pl:Mir (stacja orbitalna)
pt:Mir
ru:Мир (орбитальнаÑ? Ñ?танциÑ?)
sk:Mir
fi:Mir
sv:Mir
th:สถานีà¸à¸§à¸?าศมีร์
zh:和平號太空站
:''See also
Mir and
Mir (disambiguation).''
Meanings of '''MIR''':
*
Mail-in rebate
*
Medical Inspection Room - the place for sick parade in most British and Commonwealth militaries and many
Non-governmental organization NGOs.
*
Micropower Impulse Radar - a compact low-power radar system developed at
LLNL.
*
Mid-level intermediate representation - one of
intermediate representations of a computer program in
compiler.
*
Minneapolis Industrial Railway {{reporting mark|MIR}}
*
Mir Ibrahim Rahman
*
MIR in Radios - (Maximum Information Rate) maximum bandwidth the
SU will be delivered from the
AP in Kbps
*
Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria - the name of several
political party political parties in
Latin America.
*
Music Information Retrieval
*
MIR (submersible) MIR - Russian submersibles.
*
Mir - Soviet space station
* maximum impact research - small, tidy design consulting
consortium composed almost exclusively of current, former, and
perennial MIT students. [http://www.mir.com/Mir/mir-welcome.html]
*MIR also stands for the unsigned
emo (music) emo band
Making It Right.
* Mir (is also the same word as 'me' in the German language)
{{TLAdisambig}}
da:MIR
{{commonscat|Mir}}
All articles relating to the old
Russia Russian space station
Mir.
Category:Space stations
ko:분류:미르
*** Shopping-Tip: Mir
