A much-delayed exit for a tough survivor
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The Mir space station was launched February 20, 1986. Its cosmonauts hold several records in space exploration.
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(CNN) -- When the Mir space station was launched February 20, 1986, it was the ultimate symbol of the heroic success of the Soviet space program. Later it came to represent the no-less heroic Russian capacity to survive against the odds.
The decision to ditch such a powerful symbol was a difficult one, made only as a last resort by Russian officials.
On March 23, 2001, Mir disintegrated in a flaming shower of debris as ground controllers forced the aging space station to make a suicidal return to Earth. Its legacy will live long past its fiery demise.
Mir cosmonauts hold the records for the longest space mission, the longest time in space and the longest time spent walking in space.
The station has orbited the Earth more than 80,000 times, served as a base for 23,000 scientific experiments and hosted more than 104 people, including 42 cosmonauts; astronauts from the United States, Britain, France, Germany and other countries; a Japanese journalist; and a British candy company worker who won a contest to travel in space.
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Over the years, five modules were added to the Mir's original capsule, giving the craft the largest exterior of any previous space station. It far exceeded the projection of a three- to five-year lifespan by the engineers who designed it.
But eventually Mir became better known for its mishaps than its technological feats.
In February 1997, an oxygen-generating canister burst into flames and filled the space station and the emergency escape capsule with smoke. Cosmonauts Vasiliy Tsibliev and Alexander Lazutkin managed to put out the blaze.
A few months later, Tsibliev and Lazutkin faced another
life-threatening ordeal when a cargo ship crashed into Mir during a docking test -- the worst collision ever in space. The impact created an air leak that the cosmonauts located and sealed as their oxygen supply was running out.
Those two incidents are the most famous near catastrophes for Mir, but it experienced hundreds of other glitches. Pressure began mounting to retire Mir due to safety concerns. But by then, it had worked its way into the hearts of many people around the globe who had tracked its exploits.
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In 1997, a fire broke out, filling Mir with smoke. Eventually, the space station became better known for its mishaps than its technological marvels.
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For Russians, in particular, the ungainly Mir is far more than a battered piece of space history. While Earth-bound Russians weathered the economic and political turmoil following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mir kept on orbiting, setting the stage for a permanent human presence in space for all mankind.
The Russians had leased time on Mir to international space programs to help cover its massive maintenance costs. But non-Russian astronauts were returning to Earth with horror stories about time spent on the creaking, leaky craft. Mir became like an old car that is too expensive to keep running but holds too much nostalgia to abandon.
In 2000, a consortium of U.S. and European space enthusiasts known as MirCorp negotiated with the Russians to lease Mir and turn it into the first "space
Hotel" for "citizen explorers" wealthy enough to pay millions of dollars to visit it. The cash needed to keep Mir aloft, however, did not come through.
Meanwhile, NASA was pressuring Russia to stop pouring rubles into Mir and meet its obligations as one of the 16 nations involved in the International Space Station. The International Space Station project aims to build on and ultimately surpass the achievements of Mir by combining the money and expertise of Russia, the United States, Europe and Japan.
The last two persons to live on Mir, Alexander Kaleri and Sergei Zaletin, returned in June 2000 after a two-month trip. Russian officials committed to retiring the space station a few months later.
Plans were being laid for the elaborate deorbiting process when another technical glitch struck. In December, ground controllers lost all contact with Mir for 24 hours due to a power outage. It was the worst communication breakdown in the craft's 15-year history. Russian space chiefs later admitted they feared they might never regain control of the craft.
Despite the huge financial drain of Mir and the dangers presented by its deteriorating systems, Russian cosmonauts, scientists and hard-line politicians were among those who protested plans to dump it.
"Mir may be old, but it's our symbol and it costs more than money," said cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov, a veteran of two Mir missions. "Losing the station, we will also lose the prestige of a great space power."
But Russian Space Agency Chief Yuri Koptev said that Mir's era is past.
"The Mir has lived a wonderful life and must end it in a graceful way," Koptev said at a news conference in February 2001. "We must discard it while we are still capable of controlling it, not turn its descent into roulette that threatens the entire global community."
The Associated Press contributed to this report, written by CNN.com writer Carol Clark.
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