Russia has a long and distinguished history in space. It was the first country to send a satellite into space, the first country to send a man into space and the first country to launch a space station into space. Even when the International Space Station was launched in 1988, the Russians had already 'been there and done that'. The Mir Orbital Complex was in orbit for fifteen years, three times longer than initially planned. During that time, there were many manned missions to and from it and many spacewalks. Mir took ten years to build. The main piece, or module, weighing 20 tonnes, was launched into space in 1986. A further six modules were launched individually and added to the main module making a total weight of 130 tonnes. The main module contained the living quarters for two cosmonauts in tiny cabins with windows. The first two crew members were Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Soloviev. Each module had a special purpose. Kvant was used for x-ray and UV astronomy, Kvant 2 was used as an experimental manoeuvring unit for space suited astronauts. Kristall was a micro-gravity research laboratory. Spektr and Priroda were Earth observation platforms. Mir was taken out of orbit in 2001 because of financial reasons. What remains of the Mir Space Station is now somewhere at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, but it will remain a huge achievement in space technology and a landmark in spaceflight history.

Открыть фото

×