Mir

This article is about the Soviet/Russian space station. For other uses, see Mir (disambiguation).

Mir

Mir seen from Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-89 (28 January 1998)
Mir insignia
Station statistics
COSPAR ID	1986-017A
SATCAT no.	16609
Call sign	Mir
Crew	3
Launch	20 February 1986 – 23 April 1996
Launch pad	Baikonur 200/39 Baikonur 81/23 Kennedy LC-39A
Reentry	23 March 2001, 05:59 UTC
Mass	129,700 kg (285,940 lb)
Length	19 metres (62 feet)
Width	31 metres (102 feet)
Height	27.5 metres (90 feet)
Pressurised volume	350 m3 (12,000 cu ft)
Atmospheric pressure	c. 101.3 kPa (29.91 inHg, 1 atm)
Periapsis altitude	354 km (191 nmi) AMSL ${\bar {x}}\!\,$
Apoapsis altitude	374 km (216 nmi) AMSL ${\bar {x}}\!\,$
Orbital inclination	51.6 degrees
Orbital speed	7.7 km/s 28,000 km/h; 17,000 mph
Orbital period	91.9 minutes ${\bar {x}}\!\,$
Orbits per day	15.7 ${\bar {x}}\!\,$
Days in orbit	5,511 (15 years and 32 days)
Days occupied	4,592
No. of orbits	86,331
Statistics as of 23 March 2001 (unless noted otherwise) References:
Configuration
Station elements as of May 1996

Mir (Russian: Мир, IPA: [ˈmʲir]; lit. 'peace' or 'world') was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russian Federation. Mir was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996. At the time it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit, only being succeeded by the International Space Station (ISS) after Mir's deorbiting in 2001. The station served as a microgravity research laboratory in which crews conducted experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and spacecraft systems with a goal of developing technologies required for permanent occupation of space.

Mir was the first continuously inhabited long-term research station in orbit and previously held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at 3,644 days, until it was surpassed by the ISS in 2010. It holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 days on the station from 1994 until 1995. Mir's typical crew size was 3, though larger short-term crews made an appearance, peaking at ten during STS-71. Occupied for twelve and a half years out of its fifteen-year lifespan, 105 cosmonauts and astronauts from 12 different nations visited the station, and conducted 80 spacewalks.

Mir was the next stage of the Soviet space programme's station development, following the success of six crewed single-module stations under the Salyut programme; its inaugural flight, Soyuz T-15, also conducted the only station-to-station trip, docking with Salyut 7 during its mission. Consisting of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components, its initial Core Module was launched in 1986. Proton rockets launched all components, except the Docking Module, which was installed by the Space Shuttle on STS-74. Power was provided by several photovoltaic arrays attached directly to the modules. The station was maintained at an orbit between 296 and 421 km (184 and 262 mi) altitude, completing 15.7 orbits per day at an inclination of 51.6°.

Initially, the station was operated by NPO Energia with subcontracting to KB Salyut. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mir was operated by the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA). Most of the station's occupants were Soviet/Russian; through international collaborations such as the Interkosmos, Euromir and Shuttle–Mir programmes, the station was made accessible to space travellers from several Asian, European and North American nations. Mir was deorbited in March 2001 after funding was cut off. 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). As of 2026, five of the ten longest human spaceflights ever were aboard Mir.