Russia's Mir space station returned to Earth 21 years ago

Today marks 21 years since Russia's space station, Mir, returned to Earth. As the rhetoric from Russian space agency Roscosmos intensifies, it is worth taking a look back at the deorbit of the Mir complex, the first components of which were launched during the Soviet era. Assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) was …

[Nik 2]

Supervise deorbit from on board?!

No thanks! Although if your re-entry vehicle is controlled from earth you mght not have a lot of choice in the matter...

[Anonymous Custard]

Paging Major "King" Kong...

Sounds like a job for Slim Pickens to me...

[Sin2x]

"Mir" means "peace". Sure wish it returned.

[Ken G]

It also means "walled village" and "world" as in the name VladiMIR "the one who owns the world".

[adam 40]

You might say it's now

"Mir"ed in controversy...

What's that? My hat and coat, so soon?

[John Brown (no body)]

Mould?

IIRC, it was a getting a bit mouldy up there and not much they seemed to be able to do about it. I very much doubt they could have moved it up and eventually re-occupied it. While sad to see it end it's orbital life, I suspect from the various "incidents" in its later life, it was becoming a death trap.

[Ian Tunnacliffe]

See it for yourself

If you find yourself anywhere near Toulouse you can go to the space museum there and see - and walk through - the carbon copy Mir that stayed behind on Earth. I was there about 15 years ago but I just checked online and it's still there.

[Ken G]

Re: See it for yourself

I'll put it on my list, with the Buran in Speyer Technical Museum.