MIR

                                                      MI Mir was a Soviet orbital station. It was the worlds first consistently inhabited long-term station in space. It was the first "third-generation" space station built over a number of years with a modular design.

                                                                    Mir was launched in 1986. It is the largest space station ever orbited. Mir was originally planned for a 7 year mission, but ended in 1990. In that time it completed almost 87,000 trips around the earth.

                                                                                          Mir History:

                                                           Feb 20, 1986- Mir was launched into orbit

                                                                               1991-surpasses original life expectancy

                                                                                1995-Atlantis becomes first U.S. space shuttle to dock with Mir

                                                                                 1997-Fire breaks out and cargo ship crashes into Spektr module

                                                      1998-Russia launches it's first module for the ISS

                                                      2000-MirCorp invests millions to turn it into a space tourism

                                                       2001-Mir crashes down

                                           `Mir isMir is 15 years old and has seen it's adventure in space. The Russian space agency planes to Mir back down to Earth and land in the Pacific Ocean.