Mir

History

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, however 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, however this project was cancelled after the fall of the Soviet Union made an international cooperation possible (see International Space Station). In later years, after the end of the cold war, the Shuttle-Mir program combined Russia's Mir capabilities with United States Space Shuttle program|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. 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, with a combined mass of 250 tons, at that time in space history. , 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.

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 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 module development, however, and it was reassigned for ''Mir''. The module carried the first set of six gyroscopes for attitude 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 was troubled with 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.

Kristall

'''Kristall''' was a technology, material processing, geophysics and astrophysics laboratory.

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

The '''Docking Module''' provided a safe and stable port for the Space Shuttle.

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

, 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'' (Кристалл) 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'' (Прогресс) means the same as it does in English. ''Soyuz'' (Союз) means "union," so named for the USSR (Sovietskii Soyuz, Советский 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

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 the Mir. U.S. astronauts would live in the Mir for many months on end. Thus the U.S. could share and learn from the unique experience that Russia has with long duration space trips. Starting March 1995 seven U.S. astronauts consecutively spent 28 months on the 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 of the Mir (there was a Soyuz escape craft for return to earth) was avoided with 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 the 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 disasters, 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 left the station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The story of Phase One is described in great detail by Bryan Burrough in his book '''' (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

The station played a prominent role as a refueling depot in Michael Bay's 1998 movie Armageddon (film)|Armageddon.

The station served a minor role as a refuge for S. R. Hadden in the 1997 movie adaptation of Contact_(film)|Contact.

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

International Space Station

Space Station Mir (Orbiter sim) (rendering of Mir in Orbiter (sim)|Orbiter space flight flight simulator|simulator)

Asteroid 11881 Mirstation was named after the space station.

References

http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/RP1357.pdf

http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/TP-1998-208920.pdf

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/references/documents/phase1-joint-report.pdf

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19870012563_1987012563.pdf

External links

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

http://www.123lasvegas.infoSite describe the evolution of mir project.