Power was provided by several photovoltaic arrays attached directly to the modules. When complete, the station consisted of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components. Proton rockets were used to launch all of its components except for the docking module, which was installed by US Space Shuttle mission STS-74 in 1995. The first module of the station, known as the core module or base block, was launched in 1986 and followed by six further modules. Mir was occupied for a total of twelve and a half years out of its fifteen-year lifespan, having the capacity to support a resident crew of three, or larger crews for short visits.įollowing the success of the Salyut programme, Mir represented the next stage in the Soviet Union's space station programme. It holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, with Valeri Polyakov spending 437 days and 18 hours on the station between 19. Mir was the first continuously inhabited long-term research station in orbit and held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at 3,644 days, until it was surpassed by the ISS on 23 October 2010.

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. At the time it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit, succeeded by the International Space Station (ISS) after Mir's orbit decayed. It had a greater mass than any previous spacecraft. Mir was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996. 'peace' or 'world') was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia.

Old russian space shuttle