On February 20, 1986, Soviet Union launched the core module of Mir space station. Assembled of seven major components, Mir was the first truly modular space station. The station operated for more than 15 years in low Earth orbit. 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. TASS remembers the legendary Mir space station
Mir space station: a symbol of Soviet space glory
On February 20, 1986, Soviet Union launched Mir space station
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On February 20, 1986, the Soviet Union launched Mir space station
© NASA Assembled of seven major components, Mir was the first truly modular space station. Photo: Specialists of the Mission Control Centre watching the docking of the Kvant module and the Mir space station
© Albert Pushkarev/TASS Mir space station operated for more than 15 years in low Earth orbit
© NASA 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. Photo: Cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Alexander Viktorenko playing the guitar onboard the Mir space station, 1987
© TASS On June 29, 1995, STS-71 became the first Shuttle mission ever to dock with the station. Photo: Cosmonaut Valeriy Polyako looks out Mir's window during rendezvous operations with the Space Shuttle Discovery, 1995
© NASA The view of the Space Shuttle Atlantis during docking operations on March 23, 1996
© NASA The space shuttle Atlantis connected to Russia's Mir Space Station, 1995
© NASA Mir Space Station’s Spektr Module shows the backside of a solar array panel and damage incurred by the impact of a Russian unmanned Progress re-supply ship which collided with the space station on June 25, 1997
© NASA The station served as a microgravity research laboratory in which crews conducted experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and spacecraft systems. Photo: Progress-32 cargo ship in flight to the Mir space station
© TASS Mir Space Station seen from the window of the Space Shuttle Atlantis
© NASA