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{{about|the Soviet/Russian space station}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{italic title}}{{good article}}
{{Infobox Space station
 | station                = ''Mir''
 | Date If Fail           = 21 March 2001
 | station_image          = Mir Space Station viewed from Endeavour during STS-89.jpg
 | station_image_alt      = A view of Mir backdropped by the limb of the Earth. In view are four cylindrical modules covered in white insulation arranged in a cross shape about a small, central sphere. Another module projects backward from this sphere, and a small module is attached to the far end of that. Each module is sprouting various solar arrays, cranes and other spindly equipment, with Soyuz and Progress spacecraft docked to the forward and aft ports of the complex.
 | station_image_size     =
 | station_image_caption  = ''Mir'' on 9 February 1998 as seen from the departing {{OV|105}} during [[STS-89]]
 | extra_image            =
 | extra_image_size       =
 | extra_image_caption    =
 | insignia               = Mir insignia.svg
 | insignia_size          =
 | insignia_alt           = A vaguely trapezoid blue patch with rounded corners, bordered by a thick red line. A star made up of two red and yellow arrowheads sits in the middle on top of an angular white spiral which comes to form a globe shape in the centre. The letters 'Мир' are visible in white to the top left of the patch.
 | insignia_caption       = ''Mir'' insignia
 | sign                   = ''Mir''
 | crew                   = 3
 | launch                 = 20 February 1986 – 23 April 1996
 | launch_pad             = [[Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 200|LC-200/39]], and [[Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 81|LC-81/23]], [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]]<br>[[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|LC-39A]],<br/>[[Kennedy Space Center]]
 | reentry                = 23 March 2001<br/>05:59 [[UTC]]
 | mass                   = 129,700 kg<br/>(285,940 [[Pound (mass)|lbs]])
 | length                 = 19&nbsp;m (62.3&nbsp;ft)<br/><small>from the core module to ''Kvant''-1</small>
 | width                  = 31&nbsp;m (101.7&nbsp;ft)<br/><small>from ''Priroda'' to the docking module</small>
 | height                 = 27.5&nbsp;m (90.2&nbsp;ft)<br/><small>from ''Kvant''-2 to ''Spektr''</small>
 | volume                 = 350 m³
 | pressure               = c.101.3&nbsp;[[pascal (unit)|kPa]] (29.91&nbsp;[[inch of mercury|inHg]], 1 [[Atmosphere (unit)|atm]])
 | perigee                = 354&nbsp;km (189&nbsp;[[nautical mile|nmi]]) [[Above mean sea level|AMSL]] <small><math>\bar{x} \!\,</math></small>
 | apogee                 = 374&nbsp;km (216&nbsp;nmi) AMSL <small><math>\bar{x} \!\,</math></small>
 | inclination            = 51.6 [[Degree (angle)|degrees]]
 | altitude               =
 | speed                  = 7,700&nbsp;[[m/s]]<br/>(27,700&nbsp;km/h, 17,200&nbsp;mph)
 | period                 = 91.9 minutes <small><math>\bar{x} \!\,</math></small>
 | orbits_day             = 15.7 <small><math>\bar{x} \!\,</math></small>
 | in_orbit               = 5,519 days
 | occupied               = 4,592 days
 | orbits                 = 86,331
 | NSSDC_ID               = 1986-017A
 | as_of                  = 23 March 2001<br/>(unless noted otherwise)
 | stats_ref              = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?lat=48.213&lng=16.296&alt=302&loc=Kuffner-Sternwarte&TZ=CET&satid=16609|accessdate=30 June 2009|publisher=Heavens-Above.com|date=23 March 2001|title=Mir-Orbit Data}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.esa.int/esaCP/ESA28WTM5JC_Life_2.html|title=Mir FAQ - Facts and history|publisher=[[European Space Agency]]|accessdate=19 August 2010|date=21 February 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://spaceflightnow.com/mir/status.html|publisher=Spaceflight Now|title=Mir Space Station - Mission Status Center|date=23 March 2001|accessdate=19 August 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=23 July 2010|accessdate=22 August 2010|url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1986-017A|publisher=NASA|title=NASA - NSSDC - Spacecraft - Details - Mir}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|accessdate=22 August 2010|title=Soviet/Russian space programmes Q&A|publisher=NASASpaceflight.com|url=http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=5966.465}}</ref><ref name="MirBIS"/><ref name="FinalBIS"/><ref name="OrbitCalc"/><ref name="MirObs">{{cite web|title=Mir Space Station Observing|url=http://www.satobs.org/mir.html|publisher=Satobs.org|accessdate=12 September 2010|date=28 March 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Baikonur LC200/39|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080914123504/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/bai20039.htm|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|accessdate=25 September 2010|author=Mark Wade|date=4 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Baikonur LC81/23|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20081202182748/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/baic8123.htm|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|accessdate=25 September 2010|author=Mark Wade|date=4 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Cabin Air Quality On Board Mir and the International Space Station—A Comparison|date=22 January 2007|url=http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20070013700_2007011164.pdf|author=Macatangay A.V. & Perry J.L.|page=2|publisher=NASA|location=Johnson Space Center & Marshall Spaceflight Center}}</ref>
 | configuration_image    = Mir diagram.svg
 | configuration_size     =
 | configuration_caption  = Station elements as of May 1996.
 |configuration_alt       = The main components of Mir shown as a line diagram, with each module highlighted in a different colour.
}}

'''''Mir''''' ({{lang-ru|Мир}}, {{IPA-ru|ˈmʲir|IPA}}; lit.&nbsp;''Peace'' or ''World'') was a [[space station]] that operated in [[low Earth orbit]] from 1986 to 2001, owned at first by the [[Soviet Union]] and then by [[Russia]].  ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986&nbsp;to&nbsp;1996.  It had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft.  It held the record for the largest artificial [[satellite]] orbiting the Earth until that record was surpassed by the [[International Space Station]] after Mir's deorbit on 21 March 2001.  ''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 [[Outer space|space]].

The station was the first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space and was operated by a series of [[List of Mir Expeditions|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),<ref name="Mirrecord">{{cite news|last=Jackman|first=Frank|title=ISS Passing Old Russian Mir In Crewed Time|url=http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2010/10/28/11.xml|newspaper=Aviation Week|date=29 October 2010}}</ref> 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 program]]me, ''Mir'' represented the next stage in the Soviet Union's space station programme. The first module of the station, known as the [[Mir Core Module|core module]] or base block, was launched in 1986, and was followed by six further modules, all launched by [[Proton (rocket)|Proton]] rockets (with the exception of the [[Mir Docking Module|docking module]]). When complete, the station consisted of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components. Power was provided by several [[Photovoltaic system#Photovoltaic arrays|photovoltaic arrays]] mounted directly on the modules. The station was [[Orbital station-keeping|maintained at an orbit]] between {{convert|296|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} and {{convert|421|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} altitude and traveled at an average speed of 27,700&nbsp;km/h (17,200&nbsp;mph), completing 15.7 orbits per day.<ref name="MirBIS">{{cite book|title=The History of Mir 1986-2000|year=2000|publisher=British Interplanetary Society|isbn=0-9506597-4-6|editor=Hall, R.}}</ref><ref name="FinalBIS">{{cite book|title=Mir: The Final Year|year=2001|publisher=British Interplanetary Society|isbn=0-9506597-5-4|editor=Hall, R.}}</ref><ref name="OrbitCalc">{{cite web|title=Orbital period of a planet|url=http://www.calctool.org/CALC/phys/astronomy/planet_orbit|publisher=CalcTool|accessdate=12 September 2010}}</ref>

The station was launched as part of the Soviet Union's [[Soviet space program|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 Program|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).<ref name="MirCost">{{cite news|title=Russians Find Pride, and Regret, in Mir's Splashdown |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/24/science/24MIR.html|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=9 March 2011|author=Patrick E. Tyler|date=24 March 2001}}</ref> The station was serviced by [[Soyuz (spacecraft)|Soyuz]] spacecraft, [[Progress (spacecraft)|Progress]] spacecraft and U.S. [[Space Shuttle]]s, and was visited by [[List of Mir visitors|astronauts and cosmonauts from 12 different nations]].<ref name="SSSM"/>

==Origins==
''Mir'' was authorised in a decree made on 17 February 1976 to design an improved model of the [[Salyut program|Salyut]] DOS-17K space stations. Four Salyut space stations had already been launched since 1971, with three more being launched during ''Mir'''s development. It was planned that the station's core module ([[Mir Core Module|DOS-7]] and the backup [[Zvezda (ISS module)|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.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica"/>

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 spacecraft|Progress]], and the descent and orbital modules would have been replaced with a long laboratory module.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica"/> 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&nbsp;tonne (22&nbsp;short tons) space station modules based on the [[TKS spacecraft]]. [[S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia|NPO Energia]] was responsible for the overall space station, with work subcontracted to [[KB Salyut]], due to ongoing work on the [[Energia]] [[launch vehicle|rocket]] and [[Salyut 7]], [[Soyuz spacecraft#Soyuz-T (1976-1986)|Soyuz-T]], and [[Progress spacecraft|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 (docking system)|Kurs automatic rendezvous system]], [[Luch (satellite)|''Luch'' satellite]] communications system, [[Elektron (ISS)|Elektron]] oxygen generators, and [[Vozdukh]] [[Rebreather#Carbon dioxide scrubber|carbon dioxide scrubbers]].<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica"/>

By early 1984, work on ''Mir'' had ground to a halt while all resources were being put into the [[Buran program]]me in order to prepare the [[Buran (spacecraft)|''Buran'' spacecraft]] for flight testing. Funding resumed in early 1984 when [[Valentin Glushko]] was ordered by the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]'s Secretary for Space and Defence to orbit ''Mir'' by early 1986, in time for the [[27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|27th Communist Party Congress]].<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica"/>

It was clear that the planned processing flow could not be followed and still meet the 1986 launch date. It was decided on [[Cosmonautics Day|Cosmonaut's Day]] (12 April) 1985 to ship the flight model of the [[Mir Core Module|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.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica"/>

==Station structure==

===Assembly===
[[File:Mir Docking Cone Placement and Module Movements.pdf|right|thumb|upright|A diagram showing the ''Konus'' drogue and module movements around ''Mir'''s docking node<ref name="SSA">{{cite book|title=Space Shuttle Almanac|isbn=0-9696313-0-8|year=1992/2011|author=Joel W. Powell & Lee Brandon-Cremer|url=http://www.spaceshuttlealmanac.com/|accessdate=23 August 2011}}</ref>|alt=A diagram illustrating the configuration of Mir's docking node over the station's lifetime. See adjacent text for details.]]
The orbital assembly of ''Mir'' began in February 1986 with the launch of the [[Mir Core Module|core module]] on a [[Proton-K]] rocket. Four of the six modules which were later added ([[Kvant-2|''Kvant''-2]] in 1989, ''[[Kristall]]'' in 1990, ''[[Spektr]]'' in 1995 and ''[[Priroda]]'' in 1996) 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.<ref name="MirBIS"/><ref name="SSSM"/>

The other two expansion modules, [[Kvant-1|''Kvant''-1]] in 1987 and the [[Mir Docking Module|docking module]] in 1995, 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 {{OV|104}} 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.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="STS-74"/> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

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 (spacecraft)|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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

===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-K]] rockets or {{OV|104}}.
{{-}}
{| class="wikitable" style="width:auto; margin:auto;"
|- style="background:#EFEFEF;"
! Module
! Expedition
! Launch date
! Launch system
! style="width:100px;"| Nation
! style="width:82px;"| Isolated View
! style="width:82px;"| Station View
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mir Core Module]]''<br/><small>(Core Module)</small>
| N/A
| 19 February 1986
| [[Proton-K]]
| Soviet Union
| rowspan="2" | [[File:RP1357 p103 Mir base block.svg|80px|upright| alt=A line diagram of a DOS spacecraft. The module consists of a stepped cylinder, with two large solar arrays projecting from opposing sides of the narrower portion of the module. A spherical compartment with five docking ports is attached to the end of the narrower section, whilst a lollipop-shaped antenna projects radially from the far end of the wider section.]]
| rowspan="2" | <center>[[File:Mir Core Module.JPG|40px| alt=A photograph of a DOS spacecraft. The module consists of a stepped cylinder, with two large solar arrays projecting from opposing sides of the narrower portion of the module. A spherical compartment with five docking ports is attached to the end of the narrower section, whilst a lollipop-shaped antenna projects radially from the far end of the wider section.]]</center>
|- style="border-bottom: 3px solid gray"
| colspan="4" | 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<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> control systems and the station's main engines. The module was based on hardware developed as part of the [[Salyut program]]me, 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]].<ref name="MHH">{{cite book|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Mir_Hardware_Heritage|title=Mir Hardware Heritage|author=David S. F. Portree|publisher=NASA|date=March 1995}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Kvant-1|''Kvant''-1]]<br/><small>(Astrophysics Module)</small>
| [[Mir EO-2|EO-2]]
| 31 March 1987
| [[Proton-K]]
| Soviet Union
| rowspan="2" | [[File:RP1357 p162 Kvant module.svg|80px| alt=A line diagram of a short, cylindrical Kvant space station module, with a docking port in the centre of the visible circular face. A more angular section is visible behind the cylinder, and various antennas project from the module.]]
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Mir-kvant.jpg|80px| alt=An image of a white insulation covered, stepped-cylindrical module with a number of docking ports visible on a sphere at one end and three solar arrays projecting from the narrower portion of the stepped cylinder. A second, shorter module covered in darker insulation is docked to the end opposite that of the sphere, and a Soyuz spacecraft is docked to the other end of this module. The blackness of space serves as the image backdrop.]]
|- style="border-bottom: 3px solid gray"
| colspan="4" | 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]], an [[Ultraviolet astronomy|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 [[Gyroscope|gyrodynes]] for attitude<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> control, in addition to life support systems including an [[Elektron (ISS)|Elektron]] oxygen generator and a [[Vozdukh]] carbon dioxide remover.<ref name="MHH"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Kvant-2|''Kvant''-2]]<br/><small>(Augmentation Module)</small>
| [[Mir EO-5|EO-5]]
| 26 November 1989
| [[Proton-K]]
| Soviet Union
| rowspan="2" | [[File:RP1357 p164 Kvant 2 module.svg|80px| alt=A line diagram of a Kvant 2 space station module, consisting of a stepped-cylindrical shape. Two large solar arrays project from the centre of the module on the wider section, and a cone-shaped airlock is seen at the distal end of the narrower section. Various spherical pieces of equipment and antennas project from the module.]]
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Mir Kvant 1-Base Block-Kvant 2.jpg|80px| alt=Three space station modules, connected in a supine L-shape. At the left is a Soyuz spacecraft docked to a short, stubby module, in turn docked to a larger, stepped-cylindrical module covered in white insulation, from which solar arrays project. To that module is attached a third module, similar in size, at a right angle, forming the short stroke of the L. This module is also projecting two hard-to-see solar arrays. The cloudy Earth is the backdrop.]]
|- style="border-bottom: 3px solid gray"
| colspan="4" | The first [[TKS spacecraft|TKS]] based module, ''Kvant''-2, was divided into three compartments; an [[Extra-vehicular activity|EVA]] 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]] for the [[Orlan space suit]], referred to as [[Astronaut Propulsion Unit#Soviet SPK|''Ikar'']], a system for regenerating water from urine, a shower, the ''Rodnik'' water storage system and six [[gyroscopes|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]].<ref name="MHH"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Kristall]]''<br/><small>(Technology Module)</small>
| [[Mir EO-6|EO-6]]
| 31 May 1990
| [[Proton-K]]
| Soviet Union
| rowspan="2" | [[File:RP1357 p166 Kristall module.svg|80px| alt=A line diagram of a space station module, consisting of a narrow cylinder with a sphere attached to the distal end. The sphere features two docking ports, one on the distal face and another on one of the lateral faces, and two concertinaed solar arrays project from the module. Various spherical pieces of equipment and antennas are mounted to the module.]]
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Mir from Soyuz TM-17.jpg|80px| alt=An image of a space station consisting of four modules arranged in a T-shape. A short, stubby module is docked to a longer, stepped-cylindrical module which has a number of docking ports arranged in a sphere at one end. Two other modules, similar in size, project from opposing ports on this sphere. A Progress spacecraft is docked to the short module, a Soyuz spacecraft to the end of the lower module in the crossbar of the T, and another Progress spacecraft is seen a distance away from the module cluster, carrying out undocking operations.]]
|- style="border-bottom: 3px solid gray"
| colspan="4" | ''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]] [[Spacecraft docking|docking ports]] initially intended for use with the [[Buran (spacecraft)|''Buran'']] [[Buran program|programme]] and eventually used during the [[Shuttle-Mir Program|Shuttle-''Mir'' programme]]. The docking compartment also contained the Priroda 5 camera used for Earth resources experiments. ''Kristall'' also carried six [[Gyroscope|gyrodine]]s for attitude<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> control to augment those already on the station, and two collapsible solar arrays.<ref name="MHH"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Spektr]]''<br/><small>(Power Module)</small>
| [[Mir EO-18|EO-18]]
| 20 May 1995
| [[Proton-K]]
| Russia
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Spektr module drawing.png|80px| alt=A line diagram of a space station module consisting of a large cylinder with a shallow cone at one end and a steeper cone at the other. The shallow cone has a docking port mounted in the centre, while the steeper cone has two large solar arrays projecting from it. Two more arrays are mounted at the base of the cone.]]
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Mir from STS-74.jpg|80px| alt=A space station consisting of three white modules arranged in a T shape around a central docking node. A fifth module projects upward from the docking node, with a sixth module attached to its end. A Progress and Soyuz spacecraft are docked to the station, and each of the modules projects various feathery solar arrays, antennas and trusses. The blackness of space forms the backdrop to the image.]]
|- style="border-bottom: 3px solid gray"
| colspan="4" | ''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.<ref name="SSSM"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Mir Docking Module|Docking Module]]
| [[Mir EO-20|EO-20]]
| 15 November 1995
| {{OV|104}}<br>([[STS-74]])
| US
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Mir Docking Module drawing.svg|80px| alt=A line diagram of a small, cylindrical space station module with a docking port on either end and two cuboid boxes mounted to its upper surface.]]
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Mir from STS-74PLB.jpg|80px| alt=A space station consisting of three white modules arranged in a T shape around a central docking node. The module on the downstroke of the T has a smaller, orange module attached to the distal end of it, and a fifth module projects rearward from the docking node, with a sixth module attached to its end. A Progress and Soyuz spacecraft are docked to the station, and each of the modules projects various feathery solar arrays, antennas and trusses. The blackness of space forms the backdrop to the image, and the sills of a space shuttle's payload bay can be seen at the bottom of the image.]]
|- style="border-bottom: 3px solid gray"
| colspan="4" | The docking module was designed to help simplify [[Space Shuttle]] [[Spacecraft docking|dockings]] to ''Mir''. Before the first shuttle docking mission ([[STS-71]]), the ''[[Kristall]]'' module had to be tediously moved to ensure sufficient clearance between ''Atlantis'' and ''Mir'''s 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.<ref name="SSSM"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Priroda]]''<br/><small>(Earth Sensing Module)</small>
| [[Mir EO-21|EO-21]]
| 26 April 1996
| [[Proton-K]]
| Russia
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Priroda module drawing.svg|80px| alt=A line diagram of a Priroda space station module consisting of a large cylinder with a shallow cone, featuring a docking port, mounted to one end. A large dish-shaped antenna is mounted to the side of the cylinder.]]
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Mir from STS-81.jpg|80px| alt=An image of the Mir space station consisting of four modules (the rightmost one with a smaller orange module attached to its distal end) arranged in a cross shape about a central docking node. A sixth module projects rearward from this node, and has a seventh, smaller module attached to the far end. A Soyuz spacecraft is docked at the end of this stack. Each of the modules is projecting various feathery solar arrays, antennas and trusses, and the blackness of space forms the backdrop to the image.]]
|- style="border-bottom: 3px solid gray"
| colspan="4" | The seventh and final ''Mir'' module, ''Priroda'''s 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]] dish.<ref name="SSSM"/>
|}

=== Unpressurised elements ===
[[File:Mir unpressurised elements.jpg|thumb|The Travers radar antenna, ''Sofora'' girder, VDU thruster block, SPK unit and a ''Strela'' crane, alongside ''Kvant''-2 and ''Priroda''|alt=A partial view of a space station, with two modules visible. The vertically aligned module has a large, dish-shaped antenna projecting from it, and a large truss can be seen horizontally behind it, with a white box-shaped device mounted to the end. The horizontal module has a smaller truss mounted to the end of it, with a white backpack attached to this. The module also features two large solar arrays and a number of cameras mounted to a unit on the distal end of it. Another solar array is visible behind this module.]]
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 ''Mir'''s axis lead to an 85% decrease in fuel consumption, reducing the amount of propellant required to orient the station.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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-2|''Mir''-2]] 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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

To assist in moving objects around the exterior of the station during [[Extra-vehicular activity|EVAs]], ''Mir'' featured two [[Strela (crane)|''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 {{convert|6|ft|m|disp=flip}} when collapsed, but when extended using a hand crank were {{convert|46|ft|m|disp=flip}} long, meaning that all of the station's modules could easily be accessed during spacewalks.<ref>{{cite book|title=Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel|publisher=Henry (Joseph) Press|isbn=978-0-309-08548-9|url=http://books.google.com/?id=0e2vl0sev2IC&pg=PA297&lpg=PA297&dq=strela+cranes#v=onepage&q=strela%20cranes&f=false|author=Robert Zimmerman|date=3 September 2003}}</ref>

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.<ref name="MHH"/> ''Kvant''-2 also featured a number of scan platforms and was also fitted with a mounting bracket to which the [[Astronaut Propulsion Unit#Soviet SPK|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 [[Mir EO-5|EO-5]].<ref name="SSSM"/>

In addition to module-specific equipment, ''Kvant''-2, ''Kristall'', ''Spektr'' and ''Priroda'' were each equipped with one [[Lyappa arm|''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.<ref name="MHH"/>

===Power supply===
[[File:Spektr before collision - cropped.jpg|thumb|alt=A view of the Spektr module with the blackness of space behind. In view are the module's four golden solar arrays, in addition to the cylindrical module itself, covered in white insulation and with a cone at the distal end of the module. Two of the arrays project from this cone, and two project from the distal end of the cylinder.|A view of the four solar arrays on ''[[Spektr]]'']]

[[Photovoltaic system#Photovoltaic arrays|Photovoltaic (PV) arrays]] powered ''Mir''. The station used a 28&nbsp;[[volt]] [[direct current|DC]] supply which provided 5-, 10-, 20- and 50-[[Ampere|amp]] taps. When the station was illuminated by sunlight, several solar arrays mounted on the pressurised modules provided power to ''Mir'''s systems and charged the [[Nickel-cadmium battery|nickel-cadmium storage batteries]] installed throughout the station.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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&nbsp;[[Ampere-hour|Ah]], were then used to power the station until the arrays recovered their maximum output on the day side of Earth.<ref name="SSSM"/>

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&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup> (409&nbsp;ft<sup>2</sup>) in area, were launched on the core module, and together provided a total of 9&nbsp;kW of power. A third, [[Dorsum (anatomy)|dorsal]] panel was launched on ''Kvant''-1 and mounted on the core module in 1987, providing a further 2&nbsp;kW over an area of 22&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup> (237&nbsp;ft<sup>2</sup>).<ref name="SSSM"/> ''Kvant''-2, launched in 1989, provided two 10&nbsp;m (32.8&nbsp;ft) long panels which supplied 3.5&nbsp;kW each, whilst ''Kristall'' was launched with two collapsible, 15&nbsp;m (49.2&nbsp;ft) long arrays (providing 4&nbsp;kW each) which were intended to be moved to ''Kvant''-1 and installed on mounts which were attached during a spacewalk by the [[Soyuz TM-11|EO-8]] crew in 1991.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="MHH"/>

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&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup> (1360&nbsp;ft<sup>2</sup>) of array with a 16&nbsp;kW supply.<ref name="SSSM"/> Two further arrays were flown to the station on board the {{OV|104}} 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 1&nbsp;kW.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

Total power supply by solar arrays, had the older ones not been degraded, would have been 42&nbsp;kW by 1997.

===Orbit control===
[[File:MirOrbitalManoeuvres.svg|thumb|480px|Graph showing the changing altitude of ''Mir'' from 19 February 1986 until 21 March 2001|alt=The graph has a vaguely sawtoothed shape, with a steep climb in 1986 followed by a gentler climb from 1987 to 1989. The graph then remains relatively steady until 1998, when it begins a gradual drop, before commencing a steep plunge during 2000 and early 2001.]]
''Mir'' was maintained in a near circular orbit with an average perigee of {{convert|354|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} and an average apogee of {{convert|374|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}, travelling at an average speed of 27,700&nbsp;km/h (17,200&nbsp;mph) and completing 15.7 orbits per day.<ref name="MirBIS"/><ref name="FinalBIS"/><ref name="OrbitCalc"/> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

The [[Yaw, pitch and roll#Aircraft attitudes|attitude]] (orientation) of the station was independently determined by a set of externally mounted [[Attitude dynamics and control#Absolute attitude sensors|sun, star and horizon sensors]].{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}  Attitude<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> information was conveyed between updates by rate sensors.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} Attitude<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> control was maintained by a combination of two mechanisms; in order to hold a set attitude<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.-->, a system of twelve [[control moment gyroscope]]s (CMGs, or "gyrodynes") rotating at 10,000&nbsp;[[Revolutions per minute|rpm]] kept the station oriented, six CMGs being located in each of the ''Kvant-1'' and ''Kvant-2'' modules.<ref name="MHH"/><ref name="MirGyros">{{cite journal|title=Further Analysis of the Microgravity Environment on Mir Space Station during Mir-16|date=June 1996|url=http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/GLTRS/browse.pl?1996/TM-107239.html|author=DeLombard R., Ryaboukha S., Hrovat K. & Moskowitz M.|publisher=NASA}}</ref> When the attitude<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> 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<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> and the CMGs were reengaged.<ref name="MirGyros"/> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/> Conversely, materials processing experiments required the minimisation of movement on board the station, and so ''Mir'' would be oriented in a [[gravity gradient]] attitude<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> for stability.<ref name="SSSM"/> Prior to the arrival of the modules containing these gyrodynes, the station's attitude<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="Dragonfly"/>

===Communications===
[[Radio|Radio communications]] provided [[telemetry]] and scientific data links between ''Mir'' and the [[TsUP|RKA Mission Control Centre]] (TsUP). Radio links were also used during [[Space rendezvous|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 (ISS)|''Lira'']] [[Antenna (radio)|antenna]] mounted to the [[Mir Core Module|core module]]. The ''Lira'' antenna also had the capability to use the [[Luch (satellite)|''Luch'']] data relay satellite system (which fell into disrepair in the 1990s) and the network of Soviet [[tracking ship]]s deployed in various locations around the world (which also became unavailable in the 1990s).<ref name="SSSM"/> [[Ultra high frequency|UHF radio]] was used by cosmonauts conducting [[Extra-vehicular activity|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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

===Microgravity===
[[File:Earth & Mir (STS-71).jpg|thumb|right|''Mir'' in orbit high above the Earth]] 
At ''Mir'''s 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 [[weightlessness]], the onboard environment was not one of weightlessness or zero gravity. The environment was, however, often described as [[Micro-g environment|microgravity]]. This state of perceived weightlessness was not perfect, however, being disturbed by five separate effects:<ref name="gravity">{{cite web|url=http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/downloads/userguides/physenv.pdf|title=European Users Guide to Low Gravity Platforms|accessdate=13 July 2011|date=6 December 2005|format=PDF|publisher=European Space Agency|pages=1&ndash;3|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090327101925/http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/downloads/userguides/physenv.pdf|archivedate=27 March 2009}}</ref>

* 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&nbsp;rpm, producing vibrations of 166.67&nbsp;[[Hertz|Hz]]<ref name="MirGyros"/>) or thrusters,
* [[Tidal force]]s. Any parts of ''Mir'' not at exactly the same distance from Earth tended to [[Gravity-gradient stabilization|follow separate orbits]]. 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===
''Mir''<nowiki>'</nowiki>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 (ISS)|''Elektron'']] system generated oxygen on board the station. The crew had a backup option in the form of bottled oxygen and [[chemical oxygen generator|Solid Fuel Oxygen Generation]] (SFOG) canisters, a system known as [[Vika oxygen generator|''Vika'']]. Carbon dioxide was removed from the air by the ''[[Vozdukh]]'' system.<ref name="SSSM"/> Other by-products of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, were removed by [[Activated carbon|activated charcoal]] filters. These systems are all now operational on the [[International Space Station]].

The atmosphere on board ''Mir'' was similar to [[Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-station2.htm|title=How Space Stations Work|last=Craig Freudenrich|publisher=Howstuffworks|date=20 November 2000|accessdate=23 November 2008}}</ref> Normal air pressure on the station was 101.3&nbsp;[[kilopascal|kPa]] (14.7&nbsp;[[Pounds per square inch|psi]]); the same as at sea level on Earth.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Clinton Anderson|coauthors=et al.|publisher=US Government Printing Office|title=Report of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, United States Senate—Apollo 204 Accident|date=30 January 1968|location=Washington, DC|page=8|url=http://klabs.org/richcontent/Reports/Failure_Reports/as-204/senate_956/as204_senate_956.pdf}}</ref>
{{see also|ISS ECLSS}}

==International cooperation==
[[File:Ewald, Reinhold.jpg|thumb|[[Reinhold Ewald]] (right) and [[Vasily Tsibliyev]] in the [[Mir Core Module|core module]] during the German's visit to ''Mir''|alt=Two men seen in front of a wall featuring a number of switches and dials and covered by large American, Russian and German flags. The men are wearing blue jumpsuits, and two ventilation hoses are visible at the top of the image.]]

===Intercosmos===
{{Main|Intercosmos}}
Intercosmos ("ИнтерКосмос" Interkosmos) was a space exploration programme run by the Soviet Union to allow members from the military forces of allied [[Warsaw Pact]] 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.
* [[Muhammed Faris]] - [[Mir EP-1|EP-1]] (1987) {{flag|Syria}}<ref name=EA-TM3>{{cite web|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20081228112055/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/soyuztm3.htm|title=Soyuz TM-3|publisher=[[Encyclopedia Astronautica]]|accessdate=11 November 2010}}</ref>
* [[Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov]] - [[Mir EP-2|EP-2]] (1988) {{flag|Bulgaria|1971}}<ref name=EA-TM5>{{cite web|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080704195258/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mirep2.htm|title=Mir EP-2|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|accessdate=8 December 2010}}</ref>
* [[Abdul Ahad Mohmand]] - [[Mir EP-3|EP-3]] (1988) {{flag|Afghanistan|1987}}<ref name=EA-TM6>{{cite web|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090103213209/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mirep3.htm|title=Mir EP-3|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|accessdate=8 December 2010}}</ref>

===European involvement===
Over the course of the ''Mir'' programme, various European astronauts visited the station as part of several cooperative programmes:<ref name="ESApatches">{{cite web|url=http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/corporate/posterpatch.pdf|publisher=ESA|title=European Manned Spaceflight Patches|date=29 October 2009|accessdate=15 December 2010}}</ref>

* [[Jean-Loup Chrétien]] - [[Mir Aragatz|''Aragatz'']] (1988) {{flag|France}}
* [[Helen Sharman]] - [[Project Juno]] (1991) {{flag|UK}}
* [[Franz Viehböck]] - [[Soyuz TM-13|Austromir '91]] (1991) {{flag|Austria}}
* [[Klaus-Dietrich Flade]] - [[Soyuz TM-14|''Mir'' '92]] (1992) {{flag|Germany}}
* [[Michel Tognini]] - [[Soyuz TM-15|''Antarès'']] (1992) {{flag|France}}
* [[Jean-Pierre Haigneré]] - [[Soyuz TM-17|''Altair'']] (1993) {{flag|France}}
* [[Ulf Merbold]] - [[Soyuz TM-20|Euromir '94]] (1994) {{flag|Germany}}
* [[Thomas Reiter]] - [[Soyuz TM-22|Euromir '95]] (1995) {{flag|Germany}}
* [[Claudie Haigneré]] - [[Soyuz TM-24|''Cassiopée'']] (1996) {{flag|France}}
* [[Reinhold Ewald]] - [[Soyuz TM-25|''Mir'' '97]] (1997) {{flag|Germany}}
* [[Léopold Eyharts]] - [[Soyuz TM-27|''Pégase'']] (1998) {{flag|France}}
* [[Ivan Bella]] - [[Soyuz TM-29|''Stefanik'']] (1999) {{flag|Slovakia}}

===Shuttle–''Mir'' programme===
{{Main|Shuttle–Mir Program}}
[[File:Shuttle-Mir Astronauts.jpg|thumb|179 px|The seven NASA astronauts who carried out long-duration missions on ''Mir''|alt=A portrait of six men and one woman, arranged in two rows, four sitting at the front and three standing at the back. They are each wearing tan trousers and a blue polo shirt with a patch and their name on it, and the US and NASA flags are visible in the background.]]
In the early 1980s, NASA planned to launch a modular space station called [[Space Station Freedom|''Freedom'']] as a counterpart to ''Mir'', while the Soviets were planning to construct [[Mir-2|''Mir''-2]] in the 1990s as a replacement for the station.<ref name="SSSM">{{cite book|author=David Harland|title=The Story of Space Station Mir|publisher=Springer-Verlag New York Inc|date=30 November 2004|location=New York|isbn=978-0-387-23011-5}}</ref> 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 [[History of post-Soviet Russia|post-Soviet economic chaos]] in Russia also led to the cancellation of ''Mir''-2, though only after its base block, [[Zvezda (ISS module)|DOS-8]], had been constructed.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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 [[Astronaut#Russia|cosmonauts]] deployed to a Space Shuttle.<ref name="SSSM"/>

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]].<ref name="gao">{{cite web|url=http://archive.gao.gov/t2pbat3/151975.pdf|title=''Space Station: Impact of the Expanded Russian Role on Funding and Research''|accessdate=3 November 2006|author=Donna Heivilin|date=21 June 1994|format=PDF|publisher=[[Government Accountability Office]]|pages=1&ndash;2}}</ref> 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 Program|Shuttle–''Mir'' programme]].<ref name="SMB">{{cite web|title=Shuttle–Mir History/Background/How "Phase 1" Started|publisher=NASA|date=4 April 2004|author=Kim Dismukes|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/history/h-b-start.htm|accessdate=12 April 2007}}</ref> 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 [[List of space agencies|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.

===Other visitors=== <!-- Note: Peter Rodney Llewellyn directs to this section -->
* [[Toyohiro Akiyama]] - [[Soyuz TM-11|''Kosmoreporter'']] (1990) {{flag|Japan}}<ref name="SSSM"/>
* A British [[Confidence trick|con artist]], Peter Rodney Llewellyn, almost visited ''Mir'' in 1999 on a private contract after promising [[United States dollar|US$]]100 million for the privilege.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/353467.stm|title=No Mir flight for British businessman|publisher=BBC News|date=27 May 1999}}</ref><ref name="Wired">{{cite news|author=Polly Sprenger|title=UK Businessman Booted Off Mir|work=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|date=26 May 1999|url=http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/1999/05/19895|accessdate=21 February 2009}}</ref>

==Life on board==
[[File:Mirspacestationtour.ogv|thumb|right|A video tour of ''Mir'' from September 1996, during [[STS-79]]|alt=A video tourinf the interior of Mir. Beginning in Kristall, the tour travels the length of that module, then cuts into Priroda, examining the scientific equipment within. The tour cuts into the core module's docking node, showing the interior of a docked Progress spacecraft, then moves into the core module. The table and one of the sleeping compartments is seen, as is an out-the-window view of a docked space shuttle, before the tour moves to its conclusion in Spektr.]]
[[File:Mir node interior STS-84, 2.jpg|thumb|right|A view of the interior of the [[Mir Core Module|core module]]'s docking node, demonstrating the crowded nature of the station.|alt=A view of the station's node module, with four open hatches visible. Each hatch is surrounded by a wide green ring, with the node walls coloured white. Numerous ventilation hoses and cables are visible passing between the hatches, and a gyrodyne and hatch cover are seen floating toward the lower left of the image.]]
Inside, the 130&nbsp;[[tonne]] ''Mir'' resembled a cramped [[labyrinth]], crowded with hoses, cables and scientific instruments &mdash; 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=One Thing After Another|url=http://discovermagazine.com/1998/jan/theyearinscience1326|work=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]|accessdate=5 February 2011|author=Fred Guterl|date=1 January 1998}}</ref> 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.<ref name="From Mir to Mars">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/safarchive/5_cool/5_mir/mir1.html|title=From Mir to Mars|publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service]]|accessdate=14 September 2008}}</ref>

===Crew schedule===
The time zone used on board ''Mir'' was [[Moscow Time]] ([[UTC+03:00|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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

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.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://users.tellurian.com/gjurrens/astrohams.html|title=Astronaut Hams}}</ref> The station was also equipped with a large supply of books and films for the crew to read and watch.<ref name="Dragonfly"/>

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.<ref name="OffPlanet"/>

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."<ref name="From Mir to Mars"/>

===Exercise===
[[File:Lucid on Treadmill in Russian Mir Space Station - GPN-2000-001034.jpg|thumb|[[Shannon Lucid]] exercises on a treadmill during her stay aboard ''Mir''.|alt=A woman running on a treadmill, anchored by orange straps. The wall behind her has a variety of items including clothing, ventilation hoses and instrument panels affixed to it.]]
The most significant adverse effects of long-term weightlessness are [[muscle atrophy]] 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.<ref name="JCB">{{cite book|author=Jay Buckey|title=Space Physiology|publisher=Oxford University Press USA|date=23 February 2006|isbn=978-0-19-513725-5}}</ref>

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&nbsp;km and run the equivalent of 5&nbsp;km per day.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/behindscenes/colbert_feature.html|accessdate=August 23, 2009|title=Do Tread on Me|date=19 August 2009|author=Amiko Kauderer|publisher=NASA}}</ref>

===Hygiene===
<!--[[File:Russian space toilet.JPG|thumb|upright|One of the [[space toilet]]s used aboard ''Mir''|alt=A white, cylindrical tank, fixed into a frame holding a hinged lid and its fastening.]]-->
There were two [[space toilet]]s (ASUs) on ''Mir'', located in the [[Mir Core Module|core module]] and [[Kvant-2|''Kvant''-2]].<ref name="Dragonfly"/> 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 appropriate "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 (ISS)|''Elektron'']] system.<ref name="SSSM"/>

''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 program|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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

On a 1998 visit to ''Mir'', bacteria and larger organisms were found to have proliferated in water globules formed from moisture that had condensed behind service panels.<ref>http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/11may_locad3/</ref>

===Sleeping in space===
[[File:Mir Crew Quarter .jpg|thumb|right|Cosmonaut [[Yury Usachov]] in his ''Kayutka''|alt=A man, dressed in blue work clothing, seen in a small cubicle. On the walls around him can be seen a sleeping bag, children's drawings, technical manuals and stained insulation. A small porthole in the centre of the wall behind him shows the nose of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the blackness of 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 ''[[Spektr]]'' until a collision with a Progress spacecraft caused the depressurization of that module.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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.<ref name="ESALife">{{cite web|url=http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAH1V0VMOC_astronauts_0.html|publisher=ESA|accessdate=28 October 2009|date=19 July 2004|title=Daily life}}</ref>

===Food and drink===
{{See also|Space food}}
Most of the food eaten by station crews was frozen, refrigerated or canned. Menus were prepared by the cosmonauts, with the help of a [[dietitian]], before their flight to the station. The diet was designed to provide around 100&nbsp;g of [[protein]], 130&nbsp;g of [[fat]] and 330&nbsp;g of [[carbohydrate]]s per day, in addition to appropriate mineral and vitamin supplements. Meals were spread out throughout the day to aid assimilation.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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 (brandy)|cognac]] and [[vodka]] for special occasions.<ref name="Dragonfly"/>

===Microbiological environmental hazards===

In the 1990s samples of [[extremophile]] molds were taken from MIR. Molds that develop aboard space stations can produce acids that degrade metal, glass and rubber.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/11may_locad3/|author=Trudy E. Bell|year=2007|title=Preventing "Sick" Spaceships}}</ref>

==Station operations==

===Expeditions===
{{Main|List of Mir Expeditions}}
{{See also|List of Mir spacewalks}}
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 [[Mir EO-28|EO-28]] to the 437-day flight of [[Valeri Polyakov]]), but generally lasted around six months.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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).<ref name="SSSM"/> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="SoyuzUS">{{cite book|title=Soyuz: A Universal Spacecraft|year=2003|publisher=Springer-Praxis|isbn=978-1-85233-657-8|author=Rex Hall & David Shayler}}</ref> The station was occupied for a total of four distinct periods; 12 March&ndash;16 July 1986 ([[Mir EO-1|EO-1]]), 5 February 1987 – 27 April 1989 (EO-2&ndash;EO-4), the record-breaking run from 5 September 1989 – 28 August 1999 (EO-5&ndash;EO-27), and 4 April&ndash;16 June 2000 ([[Mir EO-28|EO-28]]).<ref name="SoyuzUS"/> By the time of the station's deorbit, it had been [[List of Mir visitors|visited by 104 different people from twelve different nations]], making it the most visited spacecraft in history (a record later [[List of International Space Station visitors|surpassed by the International Space Station]]).<ref name="SSSM"/>

====Early existence====
{{See also|Mir Core Module|Kvant-1}}
[[File:Mir-kvant.jpg|thumb|The [[Mir Core Module|core module]] with [[Kvant-1|''Kvant''-1]] and [[Soyuz TM-3]]|alt=An image showing a white insulation covered, stepped-cylindrical module with a number of docking ports visible on a sphere at one end and three solar arrays projecting from the narrower portion of the stepped cylinder. A second, shorter module covered in darker insulation is docked to the end opposite that of the sphere, and a Soyuz spacecraft is docked to the other end of this module. The blackness of space serves as the image backdrop.]]
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-15]] on a dual mission to both ''Mir'' and [[Salyut 7]].<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica">{{cite web|title=Mir complex|publisher=[[Encyclopedia Astronautica]]|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090406003700/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/mirmplex.htm|accessdate=16 April 2007}}</ref>

[[Leonid Kizim]] and [[Vladimir Solovyov (cosmonaut)|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]].<ref name="Manned Astronautics Soyuz-T15">{{cite web|title=Spacecraft "Soyuz-T15"|publisher=Manned Astronautics|author=Alexander Anikeev|url=http://space.kursknet.ru/cosmos/english/machines/st15.sht|accessdate=16 April 2007}}</ref>

On 5 May 1986, they undocked from ''Mir'' for a day-long journey to Salyut 7. They spent 51 days there and gathered 400&nbsp;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 spacecraft#Soyuz-TM (1986-2003)|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.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mireo">{{cite web|title=Mir EO-1|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090522210231/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mireo1.htm|accessdate=18 April 2007}}</ref>

The second expedition to ''Mir'', [[Mir EO-2|EO-2]], launched on [[Soyuz TM-2]] on 5 February 1987. During their stay, the [[Kvant-1|''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 Union|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<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude, meaning orientation - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> control. The module also carried instruments for X-ray and ultraviolet astrophysical observations.<ref name="MHH"/>

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.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mireo2">{{cite web|title=Mir EO-2|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090522210236/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mireo2.htm|accessdate=18 April 2007}}
</ref><ref name="RussianSpaceweb.com Kvant-1">{{cite web|title=Spacecraft: Manned: Mir: Kvant-1 Module|publisher=RussianSpaceweb.com|author=Anatoly Zak|url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir_kvant.html|accessdate=16 April 2007}}</ref>

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 [[Mir EO-4|EO-4]] on [[Soyuz TM-7]] on 27 April 1989 the station was once again left unoccupied.<ref name="SSSM"/>

====Third start====
{{See also|Kvant-2|Kristall}}
The launch of [[Soyuz TM-8]] 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).<ref name="Mirrecord"/>  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&nbsp;[[tonne]] add-on modules based on the [[TKS spacecraft]] from the [[Almaz]] programme.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mireo5">{{cite web|title=Mir EO-5|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090522210309/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mireo5.htm|accessdate=18 April 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Mir Kvant 1-Base Block-Kvant 2.jpg|thumb|''Mir'' following the arrival of [[Kvant-2|''Kvant''-2]] in 1989|alt=A collection of three space station modules, arranged in an L-shape. At the left of the image is a Soyuz spacecraft docked to a short, stubby module, in turn docked to a larger, stepped-cylindrical module covered in white insulation, from which solar arrays project. A third module, similar in size to the stepped-cylinder module, is attached to the upper port of that module, forming the up-stroke of the L. This module is also projecting two solar arrays, and the cloudy Earth serves as the image's backdrop.]]
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. [[Manned Maneuvering Unit|MMU]], was located inside ''Kvant''-2's airlock.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mireo5"/><ref name="russianspaceweb.com Kvant-2">{{cite web|title=Spacecraft: Manned: Mir: Kvant-2 Module|publisher=RussianSpaceWeb.com|author=Anatoly Zak|url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir_kvant-2.html|accessdate=18 April 2007}}</ref>

[[Soyuz TM-9]] launched [[Mir EO-6|EO-6]] crew members [[Anatoly Solovyev]] and [[Aleksandr Nikolayevich Balandin|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<!--It's supposed to be ATTitude - please don't change this to aLTitude.--> 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.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mireo6">{{cite web|title=Mir EO-6|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090522210357/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mireo6.htm|accessdate=19 April 2007}}</ref>

''Kristall'' contained 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.<ref name="russianspaceweb.com Kristall">{{cite web|title=Spacecraft: Manned: Mir: Kristall Module|publisher=RussianSpaceWeb.com|author=Anatoly Zak|url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir_kristall.html|date=25 May 2010|accessdate=17 December 2010}}</ref>

The [[Mir EO-7|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&nbsp;kg of experiment results and industrial products, in Soyuz TM-9.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mireo6"/> Two more expeditions, [[Mir EO-8|EO-8]] and [[Mir EO-9|EO-9]], continued the work of their predecessors whilst tensions grew back on Earth.

====Post-Soviet period====
[[File:Mir from Soyuz TM-17.jpg|thumb|A view of ''Mir'' from [[Soyuz TM-17]] on 3 July 1993 showing ongoing docking operations at the station|alt=An image of a space station consisting of four modules arranged in a T-shape. A short, stubby module is docked to a longer, stepped-cylindrical module which has a number of docking ports arranged in a sphere at one end. Two other modules, similar in size, project from opposing ports on this sphere. A Progress spacecraft is docked to the short module, a Soyuz spacecraft to the end of the lower module in the crossbar of the T, and another Progress spacecraft is seen a distance away from the module cluster, carrying out undocking operations.]]
The [[Mir EO-10|EO-10]] crew, launched aboard [[Soyuz TM-13]] 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.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mireo10">{{cite web|title=Mir EO-10|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20081223180833/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mireo10.htm|accessdate=19 April 2007}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica Spektr">{{cite web|title=Spektr|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090522210207/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spektr.htm|accessdate=21 April 2007}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica Priroda">{{cite web|title=Priroda|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20081223180444/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/priroda.htm|accessdate=21 April 2007}}</ref>

The first manned mission flown from an independent [[Kazakhstan]] was [[Soyuz TM-14]], launched on 17 March 1992, which carried the [[Mir EO-11|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''). [[Mir EO-12|EO-12]] followed in July, alongside a brief visit by French astronaut [[Michel Tognini]].<ref name="SoyuzUS"/> The crew which succeeded them, [[Mir EO-13|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.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>

Throughout the period following the collapse of the USSR, crews on ''Mir'' experienced occasional reminders of the [[History of post-Soviet Russia#Economic depression and social decay|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 ship]]s being withdrawn from service by [[Ukraine]]. The new Ukrainian government also vastly raised the price of the [[Kurs (docking system)|''Kurs'']] docking systems, manufactured in [[Kiev]]{{spaced ndash}}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 [[Mir EO-14|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 [[Baikonur|Leninsk]] failed an hour after launch.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="SoyuzUS"/> Nevertheless, the spacecraft launched on time and arrived at the station two days later. All of ''Mir''<nowiki>'</nowiki>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.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>

The EO-13 crew departed on 22 July, and soon after ''Mir'' passed through the annual [[Perseids|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 [[Mir EO-15|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''.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>

On 3 February 1994, ''Mir'' veteran [[Sergei Krikalev]] became the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a U.S. spacecraft, flying on {{OV|103}} during [[STS-60]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-60/mission-sts-60.html|title=STS-60 Mission Summary|date=29 June 2001|publisher=NASA|accessdate=10 January 2014}}</ref>

The launch of [[Soyuz TM-19]], carrying the [[Mir EO-16|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 [[Mir EO-17|EO-17]] crew arrived in [[Soyuz TM-20]].<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>

====Shuttle–''Mir''====
{{Main|Shuttle–Mir Program}}
{{See also|Spektr|Priroda|Mir Docking Module}}
[[File:Atlantis Docked to Mir.jpg|thumb|{{OV|104}} docked to ''Mir'' on [[STS-71]]|alt=A cluster of cylindrical modules with projecting feathery solar arrays and a space shuttle docked to the lower module. In the background is the blackness of space, and, in the lower right corner, Earth.]]
The 3 February launch of {{OV|103}}, 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 {{convert|37|ft|m}} of the station as a dress rehearsal for later docking missions and for equipment testing.<ref name="SMH Flights">{{cite web|title=Shuttle–Mir History/Shuttle Flights and Mir Increments|publisher=NASA|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/history/h-flights.htm|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-63 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-63/mission-sts-63.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Kathy Sawyer|title=US & Russia Find Common Ground in Space – Nations Overcome Hurdles in Ambitious Partnership|newspaper=Washington Post|page=a1|date=29 January 1995|publisher=[[NewsBank]]}}</ref> Five weeks after ''Discovery'''s departure, the [[Mir EO-18|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 {{OV|104}} following the first Shuttle–''Mir'' docking mission, [[STS-71]].<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="Dragonfly">{{cite book|author=Bryan Burrough|date=7 January 1998|title=Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis Aboard Mir|place=London, UK|publisher=Fourth Estate Ltd.|isbn=978-1-84115-087-1}}</ref> ''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 [[Apollo-Soyuz Test Project|ASTP]] in 1975.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Scott & Alexei Leonov|title=Two Sides of the Moon|publisher=Pocket Books|date=30 April 2005|isbn=978-0-7434-5067-6}}</ref> The orbiter delivered the [[Mir EO-19|EO-19]] crew and returned the EO-18 crew to Earth.<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-71 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-71/mission-sts-71.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Nick Nuttall|title=Shuttle homes in for Mir docking|newspaper=The Times|date=29 June 1995|publisher=NewsBank}}</ref> The [[Mir EO-20|EO-20]] crew were launched on 3 September, followed in November by the arrival of the docking module during [[STS-74]].<ref name="STS-74">{{cite web|title=STS-74 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-74/mission-sts-74.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref><ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=CSA – STS-74 – Daily Reports|publisher=Canadian Space Agency|date=30 October 1999|url=http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/sts-074/reports.asp|accessdate=17 September 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=William Harwood|title=Space Shuttle docks with Mir – Atlantis uses manoeuvres similar to those needed for construction|newspaper=Washington Post|page=a3|date=15 November 1995|publisher=NewsBank}}</ref>

The two-man [[Mir EO-21|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 [[Mir Environmental Effects Payload|MEEP]] package on the docking module.<ref>{{cite news|author=William Harwood|title=Shuttle becomes hard-hat area; spacewalking astronauts practice tasks necessary to build station|newspaper=Washington Post|page=a3|date=28 March 1996|publisher=NewsBank}}</ref> 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 [[Mir EO-22|EO-22]] crew of [[Valery Korzun]] and [[Aleksandr Kaleri]].<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-76 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-76/mission-sts-76.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref>

Lucid's stay aboard ''Mir'' ended with the flight of ''Atlantis'' on [[STS-79]], which launched on 16 September. 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]].<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-79 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-79/mission-sts-79.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref><ref name="STS-81">{{cite web|title=STS-81 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-81/mission-sts-81.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref> 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 space suit|Orlan-M]] spacesuit alongside Russian cosmonaut [[Vasili Tsibliyev]], flying [[Mir EO-23|EO-23]]. All three crew members of EO-23 performed a "fly-around" in [[Soyuz TM-25]] spacecraft.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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 [[ISS ECLSS#Vika|''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.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="Dragonfly"/><ref name="OffPlanet">{{cite book|author=Jerry Linenger|date=1 January 2001|title=Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir|place=New York, USA|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-07-137230-5}}</ref><ref name="SMH Flights"/>

[[File:Damaged Spektr solar array.jpg|thumb|Damaged solar arrays on ''Mir'''s ''Spektr'' module following a collision with [[Progress spacecraft|Progress]]-M34 in September 1997|alt=A large, segmented, gold-coloured solar array visible connected to an insulation-covered module, seen at the extreme right of the image. The array is damaged, being bent out of shape and with a large hole in one of its segments.]]
Linenger was succeeded by [[English-American|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 crews 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.<ref name="Dragonfly"/><ref name="SMH Flights"/> In an effort to restore some of the power and systems lost following the isolation of ''Spektr'' and to attempt to locate the leak, [[Mir EO-24|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.<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{Cite news|author=David Hoffman|title=Crucial Mir spacewalk carries high hopes - continued Western support could hinge on mission's success|newspaper=Washington Post|pages=a1|date=22 August 1997}}</ref>

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.<ref name="OffPlanet"/> The next flight to ''Mir'', [[STS-86]], brought [[David Wolf (astronaut)|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''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s hull.<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-86 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-86/mission-sts-86.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref> 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''.<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-89 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-89/mission-sts-89.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref> The [[Mir EO-25|EO-25]] crew arrived in [[Soyuz TM-27]] in January 1998 before Thomas returned to Earth on the final Shuttle–''Mir'' mission, [[STS-91]].<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-91 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=29 June 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-91/mission-sts-91.html|accessdate=30 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=William Harwood|title=Final American returns from Mir|newspaper=Washington Post|page=a12|date=13 June 1998|publisher=NewsBank}}</ref>

====Final days and deorbit====
{{main|Deorbit of Mir}}
[[File:Mir reentry photo.jpg|thumb|upright|''Mir'' breaks up in Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific on 23 March 2001.|alt=A view of a bluish-grey sky through which four large and eight smaller points of light are descending in a top-right to bottom-left direction, trailing smoke.]]
Following the departure of ''Discovery'' on 8 June 1998, the EO-25 crew of [[Nikolai Budarin|Budarin]] and [[Talgat Musabayev|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 [[Russian Federal Space Agency|Roskosmos]], announced on 2 July that, due to a lack of funding to keep ''Mir'' flying, the station would be deorbited in June 1999.<ref name="SSSM"/> The [[Mir EO-26|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''<nowiki>'</nowiki>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 (ISS 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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

The crew of [[Mir EO-27|EO-27]], consisting of [[Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev|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.<ref name="SSSM"/> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

Near the end of its life, there were plans for private interests to purchase ''Mir'', possibly for use as the first orbital [[television studio|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 ''Mir'''s future, its commitments to the [[International Space Station]] project left no funding to support the aging station.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="CNN">{{cite news|title=Mir Destroyed in Fiery Descent|publisher=CNN|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/03/23/mir.descent/index.html|accessdate=10 November 2009|date=22 March 2001}}</ref>

''Mir''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s deorbit was carried out in three stages. The first stage involved waiting for [[Drag (physics)|atmospheric drag]] to [[Orbital decay|reduce the station's orbit]] to an average of {{convert|220|km|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&nbsp;×&nbsp;220&nbsp;km (103&nbsp;×&nbsp;137&nbsp;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 ''Mir'''s 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.  [[Atmospheric reentry|Reentry]] into [[Earth's atmosphere]] (100&nbsp;km/60&nbsp;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 most of the unburned fragments fell into the South [[Pacific Ocean]] around 06:00 UTC.<ref name="Reentry News">{{cite web|title=The Final Days of Mir|publisher=The Aerospace Corporation|url=http://www.reentrynews.com/Mir/sequence.html|accessdate=16 April 2007}}</ref><ref name="Reentry Page">{{cite web|title=Mir Space Station Reentry Page|publisher=Space Online|url=http://www.ik1sld.org/mirreentry_page.htm|accessdate=16 April 2007|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070614034327/http://www.ik1sld.org/mirreentry_page.htm|archivedate=14 June 2007}}</ref>

===Visiting spacecraft===
{{Main|Soyuz (spacecraft)|Progress (spacecraft)|Space Shuttle}}
{{See also|List of human spaceflights to Mir|List of unmanned spaceflights to Mir}}
[[File:Soyuz acoplada MIR.jpg|thumb|right|[[Soyuz TM-24]] docked with ''Mir'' as seen from the {{OV|104}} during [[STS-79]]|alt=An image of the four radial modules of the space station, with a Soyuz spacecraft, seen docked to the centre of the cluster. The Soyuz consists of a spherical orbital module, headlight-shaped descent module and cylindrical service module to which are attached two blue solar arrays. The entire spacecraft is covered in dark insulation except the base of the service module, which is white.]]
''Mir'' was primarily supported by the Russian [[Soyuz spacecraft|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 (spacecraft docking system)|Igla]] and [[Kurs (docking system)|Kurs]] systems, whilst the core module's forward port featured only the newer Kurs.<ref name="SSSM"/>

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.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/><ref name="Shuttle-Mir-Soyuz">{{cite web|title=Shuttle–Mir History/Spacecraft/Mir Space Station/Soyuz|publisher=NASA|date=4 March 2004|author=Kim Dismukes|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/s-mir-soyuz.htm|accessdate=11 February 2010}}</ref> Two models of Soyuz flew to ''Mir''; [[Soyuz T-15]] was the 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, [[Soyuz TM-1|1 unmanned]]) Soyuz spacecraft flew to the station over a fourteen-year period.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>

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.<ref name="Shuttle-Mir-Progress">{{cite web|title=Shuttle–Mir History/Spacecraft/Mir Space Station/Progress Detailed Description|publisher=NASA|date=4 March 2004|author=Kim Dismukes|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/s-mir-detailed-main.htm|accessdate=11 February 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/> However, in order to facilitate cargo return, ten Progress flights carried [[VBK-Raduga|''Raduga'']] capsules, which could return around 150&nbsp;kg of experimental results to Earth automatically.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/> ''Mir'' was visited by three separate models of Progress; the original [[Progress 7K-TG|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.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/> 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 [[Uncontrolled decompression|decompression]]).<ref name="SSSM"/>

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 program|''Buran'' space shuttle]], which was intended to deliver extra modules (based on the same "37K" [[Satellite bus|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''.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="russianspaceweb.com Kristall"/> 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 [[Space Shuttle orbiter|orbiters]] docked directly to ''Kristall'', but this required the relocation of the module to ensure sufficient distance between the shuttle and ''Mir''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s solar arrays.<ref name="SSSM"/> In order to eliminate the need to move the module and retract solar arrays for clearance issues, a [[Mir Docking Module|docking module]] was later added to the end of ''Kristall''.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mirodule">{{cite web|title=Mir Docking Module|author=Mark Wade|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20081223223347/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/mirodule.htm|accessdate=11 February 2010}}</ref> 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 {{convert|250|t|short ton|lk=on}}.<ref name="SSSM"/>

===Mission control centre===
{{Main|TsUP}}
[[File:Russian Mission Control Center.jpg|thumb|TsUP seen in 2007|alt=A large room with two banks of computer workstations and their operators visible. On the wall facing these workstations are three large screens displaying a diagram of an orbital ground track, a space station crew and various other pieces of data, with a large ticker above these screens. Advertisement boards are situated below the screens.]]
''Mir'' and the spacecraft visiting the station were controlled from the Russian [[Mission control center|mission control centre]] ({{lang-ru|Центр управления полётами}}) in [[Korolyov (city)|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).<ref name="TsUP">{{cite web|url=http://www.space.com/news/spacestation/missioncontrol_russia_000814.html|publisher=Space.com|accessdate=13 July 2011|date=14 August 2000|author=Yuri Karash|title=Russia's Mission Control: Keeping ISS Aloft|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100207165302/http://www.space.com/news/spacestation/missioncontrol_russia_000814.html|archivedate=7 February 2010}}</ref><ref name="MCC-M">{{cite web|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/history/to-h-b-operations-mcc.htm|accessdate=6 November 2010|date=4 April 2004|publisher=NASA|title=Shuttle-Mir Background - Mission Control Center - Moscow}}</ref> The facility is now used to control the [[Russian Orbital Segment]] of the ISS.<ref name="TsUP"/> The flight control team were assigned roles similar to the system used by NASA at their mission control centre in [[Houston]], including:<ref name="MCC-M"/>
* 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.

===Safety aspects===

====Aging 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."{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} - 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 [[coolant]], 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.<ref name="OffPlanet"/>

Various breakdowns of ''Mir'''s Elektron oxygen-generating system were also a concern. These breakdowns led crews to become increasingly reliant on the backup [[Vika oxygen generator|''Vika'']] [[chemical oxygen generator|solid-fuel oxygen generator]] (SFOG) systems, responsible for the fire during the handover between EO-22 and EO-23.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="Dragonfly"/> (see also [[ISS ECLSS#Vika|ISS ECLSS]])

====Accidents====
[[File:Mir after Fire.jpg|thumb|A charred panel in ''Kvant''-1 following the ''Vika'' fire|alt=A white panel covered in buttons, which shows signs of fire damage on its bottom edge. Wiring and other pieces of hardware are arrayed beneath the panel.]]
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 [[Mir EO-23|EO-23]]. The first of these, on 23 February 1997 during the handover period from [[Mir EO-22|EO-22]] to EO-23, followed a malfunction in one of the station's backup [[Vika oxygen generator|''Vika'']] system, a [[chemical oxygen generator]] later known as  solid-fuel oxygen generator (SFOG). The ''Vika'' malfunction led to a fire which burned for around 90 seconds (according to official sources at the TsUP; astronaut [[Jerry M. Linenger|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.<ref name="Dragonfly"/><ref name="OffPlanet"/>
[[File:Mir collision damage STS086-720-091.JPG|thumb|Picture of the damage caused by the collision with Progress M-34. Picture was taken by space shuttle Atlantis during STS 86]]
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 and the feasibility of removal of the expensive [[Kurs (docking system)|''Kurs'']] automatic docking system from Progress spacecraft. However, due to malfunctioning equipment, 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.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="Dragonfly"/>

====Radiation and orbital debris====
[[File:Space Debris Low Earth Orbit.png|thumb|right|Space debris in low Earth orbit|alt=A diagram of the Earth surrounded by huge numbers of black dots, indicating tracked pieces of orbital debris. See adjacent text for details.]]
Without the protection of the Earth's atmosphere, cosmonauts were exposed to higher levels of [[radiation]] 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&nbsp;[[Gray (unit)|cGy]] over the course of a [[Mir EO-18|115-day expedition]], producing an [[equivalent dose]] of 14.75&nbsp;[[Sievert|cSv]], or 1133&nbsp;µSv per day.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Biodosimetry Results from Space Flight Mir-18|journal=Radiation Research|year=1997|volume=148|accessdate=6 February 2011|issue=148|pages=S17–S23|jstor=3579712|author=Yang TC, ''et al''.|publisher=[[Radiation Research Society]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/S0273-1177(98)01070-9|title=Radiation environment on the Mir orbital station during solar minimum.|journal=[[Advances in Space Research]]|year=1998|volume=22|issue=4|pages=501–510|pmid=11542778|accessdate=6 February 2011|author=Badhwar GD, ''et al''.|publisher=[[Committee on Space Research]]|location=[[Johnson Space Center]], [[Houston]], [[Texas]]|pmid=11542778|bibcode = 1998AdSpR..22..501B }}</ref> This daily dose is approximately half of that received from natural [[background radiation]] on Earth in a year.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation to the General Assembly|date=26 July 2000|url=http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/gareport.pdf|accessdate=6 February 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Measurement of the Depth Distribution of Average LET and Absorbed Dose Inside a Water – Filled Phantom on Board Space Station MIR|journal=Physica Medica|year=2001|volume=17|issue=Supplement 1|pages=128–130|pmid=11770528|url=http://www.ati.ac.at/~vanaweb/papers/Arona.pdf|accessdate=6 February 2011|author=Berger T, ''et al''.|location=[[Vienna]], [[Austria]]}}</ref>

The increased radiation levels result in a higher risk of crews developing cancer, and can cause damage to the [[chromosomal|chromosomes]] of [[lymphocytes]]. These cells are central to the [[immune system]] and so any damage to them could contribute to the lowered [[immunity (medical)|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.<ref name="JCB"/>

At the low altitudes at which ''Mir'' orbited there is a variety of [[space debris]], consisting of everything from entire spent [[rocket stage]]s and defunct [[satellite]]s, to explosion fragments, paint flakes, slag from solid rocket motors, coolant released by [[RORSAT]] nuclear powered satellites, [[Project West Ford|small needles]], and many other objects.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://defensenews.com/blogs/space-symposium/2009/04/03/its-getting-crowded-up-there/#more-155|publisher=Defense News|accessdate=13 July 2011|author=Michael Hoffman|title=National Space Symposium 2009:It's getting crowded up there|date=3 April 2009}} {{Dead link|date=April 2012|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> These objects, in addition to natural [[micrometeoroid]]s,<ref>{{cite journal|author=F. L. Whipple|year=1949|title=The Theory of Micrometeoroids|journal=Popular Astronomy|volume=57|page=517|bibcode=1949PA.....57..517W}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|author=Henry Nahra|url=http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19890016664_1989016664.pdf|title=Effect of Micrometeoroid and Space Debris Impacts on the Space Station Freedom Solar Array Surfaces|date=24–29 April 1989|publisher=NASA|accessdate=7 October 2009}}</ref> Micrometeoroids also posed a risk to [[Extra-vehicular activity|spacewalking]] cosmonauts, as such objects could [[Space exposure|puncture their spacesuits]], causing them to depressurise.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/junk_iss_020107.html|title=Space Junk and ISS: A Threatening Problem|accessdate=13 July 2011|publisher=Space.com|date=7 January 2002|author=Leonard David|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090523163656/http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/junk_iss_020107.html|archivedate=23 May 2009}}</ref> 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.<ref name="SSSM"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Mir}}
{{Wikisource|Mir Hardware Heritage}}
{{Wikisource|Mir Mission Chronicle}}
{{Portal|Spaceflight|Space}}
* [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4225/imagery/videos/mirdeorbit.mpg NASA animation of ''Mir'''s deorbit].
* [http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/StationsMir/Mir.php ''Mir'' Diary]
* [http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir.html Site containing detailed diagrams, pictures and background info]
* [http://www.jamesoberg.com/05181998mirmisinfo_mir.html Site contains information on problems aboard Mir]
* [http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/references/documents/phase1-joint-report.pdf Shuttle-''Mir'': Phase 1 Program Joint Report]
* [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4225/mir/mir.htm Mir Space Station (NASA Book)]
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{{Succession box| before=[[Salyut 7]] | title=''Mir'' | years=1986&ndash;2001 | after=[[Mir-2|''Mir''-2]] as the [[Russian Orbital Segment|ROS]] in the [[International Space Station|ISS]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Orbital launches in 1986}}
{{Mir modules}}
{{Manned Mir flight}}
{{Mir expeditions}}
{{Shuttle-Mir}}
{{Russian manned space programs}}
{{US manned space programs}}
{{Space stations}}
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