Three weeks
after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, another mission was launched,
though not by NASA. Authorized by a 1976 decree, it had its work halted in 1984
by another project, before being scheduled to launch in time for the 27th
Communist Party Congress in 1986. This mission was the Mir Space Station,
launched by the Soviet Space Programme.
Designed to be
an improvement of the Salyut space station, the Mir was designed for longer
occupation and was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft. Named Mir, which can be
literally translated as ‘peace’ or ‘world’, the word actually had a deeper
connotation in Russian, being used to mean ‘sharing of resources.’ As such, in
its native Russian, Mir meant ‘peaceful sharing of world resources.’ Quite apt,
I think, for what it became.
On 19 February
1986, the Mir Core Module was launched, containing the main living quarters.
The first astronauts stayed 51 days on-board, before leaving for the Salyut 7
space station for 51 days, gathering 400kg of scientific material and 20
instruments from that station, before returning for another 20 days, and then
returning to Earth.
The second
mission to Mir (launched 5 Feb 1987) was to attach the astrophysics module to
the space station, which contained various telescopes and radiation detectors,
as well as oxygen generators and carbon dioxide scrubbers. It had a troubled
dock, when after an EVA it was found that a trash bag was stuck between the
module and the station that prevented docking. This period saw three different
crews on the station, with the first international visitors as well (from
Syria, Afghanistan and France), before the station was once again left
unoccupied on 27 April 1989.
The launch on 5
September 1989 would result in the longest human presence in space on the Mir,
a record that was only surpassed afterwards by the ISS. It also added and
augmentation module with an Extra-vehicular Activity (EVA) airlock, a cargo
compartment with a backup airlock, and a water filtration system, water storage
system and a shower. By 31 May 1990 it was further expanded with a technology
module containing material processing furnaces and biotechnology experiments.
And then, as it orbited far above the Earth, the Earth decided to interfere.
The tenth crew
to launch to Mir launched from the USSR, as Soviet citizens, and returned as
Russians. The Soviet Union had dissolved. Facing a financial crisis, the power
and earth sensing modules were put into storage. But all was not lost – on 17
June 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and US President George HW Bush
announced the Shuttle-Mir programme, a co-operative venture where the US Space
Shuttle would start docking with the Mir. This however, was still a few years
off.
Life of Mir was
very structured. Waking to at 8h00, they had two hours for breakfast and
personal hygiene, then three hours of work, one hour exercise and one hour
lunch. This was followed by three more hours of work and an hour of exercise,
before having their evening meal, after which they were free. Because one of
the effect of long-term weightlessness is muscle atrophy and deterioration of
the skeleton, exercise was vital. Cosmonauts were expected to cycle the
equivalent of 10km per day and run at least 5km per day on the provided
equipment. Most food was frozen, refrigerated or canned, and prepared by a
dietician. It provided 100g protein, 130g fat and 330g carbs per day, with
additional mineral and vitamin supplements. Mostly the crew drank tea, coffee
or fruit juice, but unlike the ISS, the Mir was provided with cognac and vodka
for special occasions.
It was during
the final stretch before the Shuttle-Mir programme became operational that
Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov set the record for the longest single stay in
space, staying on board the Mir for 437 day and 18 hours (14 months), adding to
his long stay during the second Mir mission of 240 days and 23 hours. He
orbited the earth 7 075 times and travelled a total of 300 765 472 km
around the planet, or about a light-second.
After the
Shuttle-Mir programme launched in 1995, the power and earth sensing modules
were finally added, alongside a docking module to enable easier docking with
the space shuttle. The Shuttle-Mir programme would last for four years, and
allow US astronauts to join their Russian cosmonaut comrades in gaining
experience in long space missions. During this time, however, Mir began to show
its age, with many malfunctions and incidents. Initially designed for only 5
years of operation, it had lived long past what it was designed for.
With the lessons
learned from Mir, a new, International Space Station was envisaged, and its
first modules launched in 1998. In 1999, Roscosmos announced that it could not
fund both the ISS and Mir, and opted to deorbit the station. Loaded up with extra
propellant for its final orbit, the final crew departed Mir on 28 August 1999,
just 8 days short of ten years of continuous occupation. The de-orbit finally
occurred on 23 March 2001, entering the atmosphere above the Pacific near Nadi,
Fiji. It is said that the light show was most spectacular. It had been in space
for 15 years and 31 days, and orbited the Earth 86 331 times. In total 104
people from 12 countries visited the station.
Mir’s success is
felt to this day, with the studies on long-term human occupation of space
applied to the newer ISS, and resulted in the refinement of the Soyuz
spacecraft into the most reliable launch vehicle in the world. With the
retirement of the US Shuttle programme in 2011, the Soyuz has become the only
launch vehicle to transport astronauts and cosmonauts to the International
Space Station. So when you look up at night, and catch a glimpse of the ISS,
spare a thought for its venerable predecessor, the humble Mir.
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