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104-580: Soyuz T-13 was the 8th expedition to Salyut 7 . Vladimir Dzhanibekov, having previously flown to Salyut 7 on the Soyuz T-12 mission, returned on the next flight which was to become the first to dock manually with an inert space station, as the station had been crippled by a solar array problem. For this purpose modifications were made to the Soyuz spacecraft to include control levers for proximity operations. Viktor Savinykh's and Vladimir Dzhanibekov's mission

208-590: A Proton rocket from Site 200/40 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Soviet Union . Salyut 7 was part of the transition from monolithic to modular space stations, acting as a testbed for docking of additional modules and expanded station operations. It was the eighth space station of any kind launched. Salyut 7 was the last of both the second generation of DOS-series space stations and of the monolithic Salyut Program overall, to be replaced by Mir ,

312-435: 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 held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at 3,644 days, until it

416-409: A Soyuz propulsion module, as in Soyuz and Progress , and the descent and orbital modules would have been replaced with a long laboratory module. Following a February 1979 governmental resolution, the programme was consolidated with Vladimir Chelomei 's crewed Almaz military space station programme. The docking ports were reinforced to accommodate 20-tonne (22-short-ton) space station modules based on

520-479: A bubble of their own exhaled carbon dioxide had formed around their heads. Most of the food eaten by station crews was frozen, refrigerated or canned. Meals were prepared by the cosmonauts, with the help of a dietitian , before their flight to the station. The diet was designed to provide around 100 g of protein , 130 g of fat and 330 g of carbohydrates per day, in addition to appropriate mineral and vitamin supplements. Meals were spaced out through

624-753: A counterpart to Mir , while the Soviets were planning to construct Mir -2 in the 1990s as a replacement for the station. Because of budget and design constraints, Freedom never progressed past mock-ups and minor component tests and, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Space Race , the project was nearly cancelled entirely by the United States House of Representatives . The post-Soviet economic chaos in Russia also led to

728-479: A dull gray from prolonged exposure to sunlight. Dzhanibekov piloted his ship to intercept the forward port of Salyut 7, matched the station's rotation and achieved soft dock with the station. Upon achieving hard dock—the first time a Soyuz had docked with an inert space station—the crew confirmed through the electrical connectors in the docking collars that the Salyut 7 electrical system was dead. They carefully sampled

832-593: A fire broke out at the base of the vehicle. The payload was ejected, and the crew was recovered safely. Salyut 7 was the first manned space vehicle to launch a satellite, when it fired the small experimental Iskra 2 satellite out of its waste airlock. This was performed mainly to deprive the US Space Shuttle of becoming the first manned spacecraft to launch a satellite. Salyut 7 had six resident crews. There were also four visiting missions, crews which came to bring supplies and make shorter duration visits with

936-509: A foul smell, which was often cited as visitors' strongest impression. Researchers in 2018 reported, after detecting the presence on the International Space Station (ISS) of five Enterobacter bugandensis bacterial strains, none pathogenic to humans, that microorganisms on ISS should be carefully monitored to continue ensuring a medically healthy environment for the astronauts. Some biologists were concerned about

1040-419: A fuel leak when looking through the aft porthole. Ground control decided to try to repair the damaged pipes, in what was the most complex repair attempted during EVA at the time. This was to be attempted by the next crew, the current one lacking the necessary training and tools. The damage was eventually repaired by Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov , who needed four EVAs to fix two leaks. A special tool to fix

1144-634: A fuel line rupture in September 1983 requiring EVAs by the Soyuz T-10 crew to repair). It was aloft for eight years and ten months (a record not broken until Mir), during which time it was visited by 10 crews constituting six main expeditions and four secondary flights (including French and Indian cosmonauts). The station also saw two flights of Svetlana Savitskaya making her the second woman in space since Valentina Tereshkova first flew in June 1963 and

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1248-414: A good seal. A lever operated a powerful fan and a suction hole slid open: the air stream carried the waste away. Solid waste was collected in individual bags which were stored in an aluminium container. Full containers were transferred to Progress spacecraft for disposal. Liquid waste was evacuated by a hose connected to the front of the toilet, with anatomically appropriate "urine funnel adapters" attached to

1352-535: A guitar. It commonly housed three crew members, but was capable of supporting as many as six for up to a month. The station was designed to remain in orbit for around five years; it remained in orbit for fifteen. As a result, NASA astronaut John Blaha reported that, with the exception of Priroda and Spektr , which were added late in the station's life, Mir did look used, which is to be expected given it had been lived in for ten to eleven years without being brought home and cleaned. The time zone used on board Mir

1456-455: A hand crank were 14 metres (46 ft) long, meaning that all of the station's modules could be accessed during spacewalks. Each module was fitted with external components specific to the experiments that were carried out within that module, the most obvious being the Travers antenna mounted to Priroda . This synthetic aperture radar consisted of a large dish-like framework mounted outside

1560-424: A medical doctor he observed the effects of stress on his comrades that he believed was the outcome of following an itinerary without making modifications to it. Despite this, he commented that his comrades performed all their tasks in a supremely professional manner. Astronaut Shannon Lucid , who set the record for longest stay in space by a woman while aboard Mir (surpassed by Sunita Williams 11 years later on

1664-639: A new space station, which eventually became the ISS . They also agreed, in preparation for this new project, that the United States would be heavily involved in the Mir programme as part of an international project known as the Shuttle–Mir Programme . The project, sometimes called "Phase One", was intended to allow the United States to learn from Russian experience in long-duration spaceflight and to foster

1768-574: A record-high mean orbital altitude of 475 km to forestall reentry until 1994. Retrieval at a future date by a Buran shuttle was also planned. However, unexpectedly high solar activity in the late 1980s and early 1990s increased atmospheric drag on the station and sped its orbital decay. It finally underwent an uncontrolled reentry on 7 February 1991 over the town of Capitán Bermúdez in Argentina after it overshot its intended entry point, which would have placed its debris in uninhabited portions of

1872-470: A shortage of power as a result. The first two arrays, each 38 m (409 ft ) in area, were launched on the core module, and together provided a total of 9 kW of power. A third, dorsal panel was launched on Kvant -1 and mounted on the core module in 1987, providing a further 2 kW from a 22 m (237 ft ) area. Kvant -2, launched in 1989, provided two 10 m (32.8 ft) long panels which supplied 3.5 kW each, whilst Kristall

1976-618: A spirit of cooperation between the two nations and their space agencies , the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos). The project prepared the way for further cooperative space ventures, specifically, "Phase Two" of the joint project, the construction of the ISS. The programme was announced in 1993; the first mission started in 1994, and

2080-570: A structure intended to be used on Mir -2 to hold large parabolic dishes away from the main station structure, was 5 metres long and used as a mounting point for externally mounted exposure experiments. To assist in moving objects around the exterior of the station during EVAs , Mir featured two Strela cargo cranes mounted to the sides of the core module, used for moving spacewalking cosmonauts and parts. The cranes consisted of telescopic poles assembled in sections which measured around 1.8 metres (6 ft) when collapsed, but when extended using

2184-446: A support crew docked at the aft port and left in the older, forward Soyuz, the resident crew would move the new vehicle forward by boarding it, undocking, and translating some 100–200 meters away from Salyut 7. Then, ground control would command the station itself to rotate 180 degrees, and the Soyuz would close and re-dock at the forward port. Soyuz T-7, T-9 and T-11 performed the operation, piloted by resident crews. Specifications of

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2288-538: A tethered sleeping bag, a fold-out desk, a porthole, and storage for personal effects. Visiting crews had no allocated sleep module, instead attaching a sleeping bag to an available space on a wall; US astronauts installed themselves within Spektr until a collision with a Progress spacecraft caused the depressurisation of that module. It was important that crew accommodations be well ventilated; otherwise, astronauts could wake up oxygen-deprived and gasping for air, because

2392-497: Is a good countermeasure for the bone and muscle density loss that occurs in low-gravity situations. There were two space toilets (ASUs) on Mir , located in the core module and Kvant -2 . They used a fan-driven suction system similar to the Space Shuttle Waste Collection System. The user is first fastened to the toilet seat, which was equipped with spring-loaded restraining bars to ensure

2496-628: The Buran programme in order to prepare the Buran spacecraft for flight testing. Funding resumed in early 1984 when Valentin Glushko was ordered by the Central Committee 's Secretary for Space and Defence to orbit Mir by early 1986, in time for the 27th Communist Party Congress . It was clear that the planned processing flow could not be followed and still meet the 1986 launch date. It

2600-568: The RKA Mission Control Centre (TsUP). Radio links were also used during rendezvous and docking procedures and for audio and video communication between crew members, flight controllers and family members. As a result, Mir was equipped with several communication systems used for different purposes. The station communicated directly with the ground via the Lira antenna mounted to the core module . The Lira antenna also had

2704-476: The Salyut DOS-17K space stations. Four Salyut space stations had been launched since 1971, with three more being launched during Mir' s development. It was planned that the station's core module ( DOS-7 and the backup DOS-8 ) would be equipped with a total of four docking ports; two at either end of the station as with the Salyut stations, and an additional two ports on either side of a docking sphere at

2808-465: The Salyut programme , Mir represented the next stage in the Soviet Union's space station programme. The first module of the station, known as the core module or base block, was launched in 1986 and followed by six further modules. 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. When complete,

2912-774: The TKS spacecraft . NPO Energia was responsible for the overall space station, with work subcontracted to KB Salyut , due to ongoing work on the Energia rocket and Salyut 7 , Soyuz-T , and Progress spacecraft . KB Salyut began work in 1979, and drawings were released in 1982 and 1983. New systems incorporated into the station included the Salyut 5B digital flight control computer and gyrodyne flywheels (taken from Almaz), Kurs automatic rendezvous system , Luch satellite communications system, Elektron oxygen generators, and Vozdukh carbon dioxide scrubbers . By early 1984, work on Mir had halted while all resources were being put into

3016-401: The docking module in 1995, followed different procedures. Kvant -1, having, unlike the four modules mentioned above, no engines of its own, was launched attached to a tug based on the TKS spacecraft which delivered the module to the aft end of the core module instead of the docking node. Once hard docking had been achieved, the tug undocked and deorbited itself. The docking module, meanwhile,

3120-468: The nickel-cadmium storage batteries installed throughout the station. The arrays rotated in only one degree of freedom over a 180° arc, and tracked the Sun using Sun sensors and motors installed in the array mounts. The station itself also had to be oriented to ensure optimum illumination of the arrays. When the station's all-sky sensor detected that Mir had entered Earth's shadow, the arrays were rotated to

3224-426: The skeleton , or spaceflight osteopenia . Other significant effects include fluid redistribution, a slowing of the cardiovascular system , decreased production of red blood cells , balance disorders, and a weakening of the immune system . Lesser symptoms include loss of body mass, nasal congestion, sleep disturbance, excess flatulence , and puffiness of the face. These effects begin to reverse quickly upon return to

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3328-469: The Earth. To prevent some of these effects, the station was equipped with two treadmills (in the core module and Kvant -2) and a stationary bicycle (in the core module); each cosmonaut was to cycle the equivalent of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and run the equivalent of 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) per day. Cosmonauts used bungee cords to strap themselves to the treadmill. Researchers believe that exercise

3432-573: The ISS), also commented about working aboard Mir : "I think going to work on a daily basis on Mir is very similar to going to work on a daily basis on an outstation in Antarctica. The big difference with going to work here is the isolation, because you really are isolated. You don't have a lot of support from the ground. You really are on your own." The most significant adverse effects of long-term weightlessness are muscle atrophy and deterioration of

3536-466: The ISS. The atmosphere on Mir was similar to Earth's . Normal air pressure on the station was 101.3  kPa (14.7  psi ); the same as at sea level on Earth. An Earth-like atmosphere offers benefits for crew comfort. Interkosmos ( Russian : ИнтерКосмос ) was a Soviet Union space exploration programme which allowed members from countries allied with the Soviet Union to participate in crewed and uncrewed space exploration missions. Participation

3640-475: The Salyut series. A set of modifications to the interior made it more liveable. There were approximately 20 windows with shades on the Salyut 7. To protect the inside of the windows, they were covered with removable glass panels. The colour scheme was improved and a refrigerator was installed. The ceiling on the Salyut 7 was white; the left wall was apple green and the right one beige, a signature design by interior design architect, Galina Balashova , who carried on

3744-622: The Space Shuttle, in order to receive commands from the TsUP and Mir crew members via the TORU system. At Mir' s orbital altitude, the force of Earth's gravity was 88% of sea level gravity. While the constant free fall of the station offered a perceived sensation of weightlessness , the onboard environment was not one of weightlessness or zero gravity. The environment was often described as microgravity . This state of perceived weightlessness

3848-655: The United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes called for a short joint space programme with one American astronaut deployed to the Russian space station Mir and two Russian cosmonauts deployed to a Space Shuttle. In September 1993, US Vice President Al Gore Jr. , and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin announced plans for

3952-462: The VDU (Vynosnaya Dvigatyelnaya Ustanovka), was mounted on the end of Sofora and was used to augment the roll-control thrusters on the core module. The VDU's increased distance from Mir' s axis allowed an 85% decrease in fuel consumption, reducing the amount of propellant required to orient the station. A second girder, Rapana , was mounted aft of Sofora on Kvant -1. This girder, a small prototype of

4056-431: The ability to mount secondary panels on their sides. Internally, the Salyut 7 carried electric stoves, a refrigerator, constant hot water and redesigned seats at the command console (more like bicycle seats). Two portholes were designed to allow ultraviolet light in, to help kill infections. The medical, biological and exercise sections were improved, to allow long stays in the station. The BST-1M telescope used in Salyut 6

4160-485: The air heaters. The cosmonauts relied on the Soyuz T-13 air regeneration system until they could get the Salyut 7 system back in order. On June 13 the attitude control system was successfully reactivated. This was cause for jubilation, as it meant Kosmos 1669 (a Progress supply spacecraft ) bearing replacement parts could dock with Salyut 7. The station's water tanks thawed by the end of June – freezing had destroyed

4264-448: The air in the station before opening the hatch. The station air was very cold, but breathable. Frost covered the walls and apparatus. The cosmonauts wore winter garb, including fur-lined hats, as they entered the station. The first order of business was to restore electric power. Two of the eight batteries were destroyed, the rest fully discharged. Dzhanibekov determined that a sensor in the solar array pointing system had failed, preventing

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4368-407: The atmosphere on 19 September. Kosmos 1686 was launched on 27 September 1985, docking with the station on 2 October. It did not carry a recovery vehicle, and remained connected to the station for use by the crew of Soyuz T-14 . Ten Soyuz T crews operated in Salyut 7. Only two Interkosmos "guest cosmonauts" worked in Salyut 7. The first attempt to launch Soyuz T-10 was aborted on the launch pad when

4472-699: The baseline 1982 Salyut 7 module, from Mir Hardware Heritage (1995, NASA RP1357): (Launched crews. Spacecraft launch and landing dates listed.) The repair and reactivation of the station by Soyuz T-13 is the subject of the 2017 Russian historical drama Salyut 7 . These events also served as a plot base for the Polish novel Połowa nieba (pol. Half the sky ), by Bartek Biedrzycki (first published 2018), collected in Zimne światło gwiazd in 2020. Mir Mir ( Russian : Мир , IPA: [ˈmʲir] ; lit.   ' peace ' or ' world ' )

4576-470: The batteries from recharging. A telemetry radio problem prevented the TsUP (mission control center) from detecting the problem. Salyut 7 had quickly run down its batteries, shutting down all its systems and accounting for the break in radio contact. The cosmonauts set about recharging the batteries and used Soyuz T-13 to turn the station in order to point its solar arrays to the sun. On June 10 they turned on

4680-477: The batteries needed charging. Once the batteries were replaced, the station started charging them, and warmed up over the next few days. Within a week sufficient systems were brought back online to allow uncrewed Progress cargo ships to dock with the station. Salyut 7 was last inhabited in 1986 by the crew of Soyuz T-15 , who ferried equipment from Salyut 7 to the new Mir space station. Between 19 and 22 August 1986, engines on Kosmos 1686 boosted Salyut 7 to

4784-546: The cancellation of Mir -2, though only after its base block, DOS-8 , had been constructed. Similar budgetary difficulties were faced by other nations with space station projects, which prompted the US government to negotiate with European states, Russia, Japan, and Canada in the early 1990s to begin a collaborative project. In June 1992, American president George H. W. Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin agreed to cooperate on space exploration . The resulting Agreement between

4888-483: The cancelled Almaz military space station. They helped engineers develop the technology necessary to build Mir . It had two docking ports, one on either end of the station, to allow docking with the Progress uncrewed resupply craft, and a wider front docking port to allow safer docking with a Heavy Kosmos module. It carried three solar panels , two in lateral and one in dorsal longitudinal positions, but they now had

4992-459: The capability to use the Luch data relay satellite system (which fell into disrepair in the 1990s) and the network of Soviet tracking ships deployed in various locations around the world (which also became unavailable in the 1990s). UHF radio was used by cosmonauts conducting EVAs . UHF was also employed by other spacecraft that docked to or undocked from the station, such as Soyuz, Progress, and

5096-409: The concept through Soyuz to Mir and Buran , in an effort to replace 'survive' with 'comfort', working with seasoned cosmonauts to make living conditions better and 'closer to home' Externally, in a departure from previous first generation stations, the large diameter operations section which housed the large scientific apparatus, was colored in a distinctive brown-red and white stripe pattern. This

5200-476: The core module. Crews were also provided with rinse-less shampoo and edible toothpaste to save water. On a 1998 visit to Mir , bacteria and larger organisms were found to have proliferated in water globules formed from moisture that had condensed behind service panels. The station provided two permanent crew quarters, the Kayutkas , phonebox-sized booths set towards the rear of the core module, each featuring

5304-417: The crews began preparing for their evening meal at about 19:00. The cosmonauts were free to do as they wished in the evening, and largely worked to their own pace during the day. In their spare time, crews were able to catch up with work, observe the Earth below, respond to letters, drawings, and other items brought from Earth (and give them an official stamp to show they had been aboard Mir ), or make use of

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5408-404: The day to aid assimilation. Canned food such as jellied beef tongue was placed into a niche in the core module's table, where it could be warmed in 5–10 minutes. Usually, crews drank tea, coffee and fruit juices, but, unlike the ISS, the station also had a supply of cognac and vodka for special occasions. In the 1990s ninety species of micro-organisms were found inside Mir , four years after

5512-547: The detailed itineraries provided by ground control. Every second on board was accounted for and all activities were timetabled. After working some time on Mir , Linenger came to feel that the order in which his activities were allocated did not represent the most logical or efficient order possible for these activities. He decided to perform his tasks in an order that he felt enabled him to work more efficiently, be less fatigued, and suffer less from stress. Linenger noted that his comrades on Mir did not "improvise" in this way, and as

5616-553: The end, it had been visited by 104 different people from twelve different nations , making it the most visited spacecraft in history (a record later surpassed by the ISS ). Due to pressure to launch the station on schedule, mission planners were left without Soyuz spacecraft or modules to launch to the station at first. It was decided to launch Soyuz T-15 on a dual mission to both Mir and Salyut 7 . Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov first docked with Mir on 15 March 1986. During their nearly 51-day stay on Mir , they brought

5720-622: The first space station Salyut 1 using the Igla system, to the Russian Orbital Segment of the International Space Station using the Kurs system. Upon arrival, on 6 June 1985, the Soyuz crew found the station was not broadcasting radar or telemetry for rendezvous, and after arrival and external inspection of the tumbling station, the crew estimated proximity using handheld laser rangefinders. Dzhanibekov piloted his ship to intercept

5824-400: The first woman to perform an EVA during which she conducted metal cutting and welding alongside her colleague Vladimir Dzhanibekov . Aside from the many experiments and observations made on Salyut 7, the station also tested the docking and use of large modules with an orbiting space station. The modules were called "Heavy Kosmos modules" though in reality were variants of the TKS intended for

5928-403: The forward port of Salyut 7 and matched the station's rotation. After hard docking to the station and confirming the station's electrical system was dead, Dzhanibekov and Savinykh sampled the station atmosphere prior to opening the hatch. Attired in winter fur-lined clothing, they entered the station to conduct repairs. The fault was eventually found to be an electrical sensor that determined when

6032-456: The front of the station to enable further modules to expand the station's capabilities. By August 1978, this had evolved to the final configuration of one aft port and five ports in a spherical compartment at the forward end of the station. It was originally planned that the ports would connect to 7.5-tonne (8.3-short-ton) modules derived from the Soyuz spacecraft . These modules would have used

6136-491: The minimisation of movement on board the station, and so Mir would be oriented in a gravity gradient attitude for stability. Prior to the arrival of the modules containing these gyrodynes, the station's attitude was controlled using thrusters located on the core module alone, and, in an emergency, the thrusters on docked Soyuz spacecraft could be used to maintain the station's orientation. Radio communications provided telemetry and scientific data links between Mir and

6240-452: The modular, expandable, third generation. Salyut 7 was the backup vehicle for Salyut 6 and was very similar in equipment and capabilities. With delays to the Mir programme it was decided to launch the back-up vehicle as Salyut 7. In orbit the station suffered technical failures though it benefited from the improved payload capacity of the visiting Progress and Soyuz craft and the experience of its crews who improvised many solutions (such as

6344-403: The module, with associated equipment within, used for Earth observations experiments, as was most of the other equipment on Priroda , including various radiometers and scan platforms. Kvant -2 also featured several scan platforms and was fitted with a mounting bracket to which the cosmonaut manoeuvring unit , or Ikar , was mated. This backpack was designed to assist cosmonauts in moving around

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6448-563: The modules, and the VDU thruster used for roll control mounted to the Sofora girder) were used to attain the new attitude and the CMGs were reengaged. This was done fairly regularly depending on experimental needs; for instance, Earth or astronomical observations required that the instrument recording images be continuously aimed at the target, and so the station was oriented to make this possible. Conversely, materials processing experiments required

6552-423: The most impressive feats of in-space repairs in history". As the crew approached the inert station, they saw that its solar arrays were pointing randomly as it rolled slowly about its long axis. They used a handheld laser rangefinder to judge their distance, and conducted a fly-around inspection to be certain the exterior was intact. Dzhanibekov noted that the thermal blankets on the transfer compartment had turned

6656-751: The mutant fungi being a major microbiological hazard for humans, and reaching Earth in the splashdown, after having been in an isolated environment for 15 years. Mir was visited by a total of 28 long-duration or "principal" crews, each of which was given a sequential expedition number formatted as EO-X. Expeditions varied in length (from the 72-day flight of the crew of EO-28 to the 437-day flight of Valeri Polyakov ), but generally lasted around six months. Principal expedition crews consisted of two or three crew members, who often launched as part of one expedition but returned with another (Polyakov launched with EO-14 and landed with EO-17). The principal expeditions were often supplemented with visiting crews who remained on

6760-421: The optimum angle predicted for reacquiring the Sun once the station passed out of the shadow. The batteries, each of 60  Ah capacity, were then used to power the station until the arrays recovered their maximum output on the day side of Earth. The solar arrays themselves were launched and installed over a period of eleven years, more slowly than originally planned, with the station continually suffering from

6864-452: The project continued until its scheduled completion in 1998. Eleven Space Shuttle missions, a joint Soyuz flight, and almost 1000 cumulative days in space for US astronauts occurred over the course of seven long-duration expeditions. Inside, the 130-tonne (140-short-ton) Mir resembled a cramped labyrinth , crowded with hoses, cables and scientific instruments—as well as articles of everyday life, such as photos, children's drawings, books and

6968-411: The radial port where it was to mate, before lowering it to dock. The node was equipped with only two Konus drogues, which were required for dockings. This meant that, prior to the arrival of each new module, the node would have to be depressurised to allow spacewalking cosmonauts to manually relocate the drogue to the next port to be occupied. The other two expansion modules, Kvant -1 in 1987 and

7072-419: The resident crews. The station suffered from two major problems, the first of which required extensive repair work to be performed on a number of EVAs. On 9 September 1983, during the stay of Vladimir Lyakhov and Alexander Alexandrov , while reorienting the station to perform a radiowave transmission experiment, Lyakhov noticed the pressure of one fuel tank was almost zero. Following this, Alexandrov spotted

7176-413: The same sequence to be added to the main Mir complex. Firstly, the module would be launched independently on its own Proton-K and chase the station automatically. It would then dock to the forward docking port on the core module's docking node, then extend its Lyappa arm to mate with a fixture on the node's exterior. The arm would then lift the module away from the forward docking port and rotate it on to

7280-418: The second generation stations Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 comprised a monolithic station with two ports to allow consumables to be replenished by cargo spacecraft such as Progress . The capability of Mir to be expanded with add-on modules meant that each could be designed with a specific purpose in mind (for instance, the core module functioned largely as living quarters), thus eliminating the need to install all

7384-552: The sink, toilet, and condensation from the air. The Elektron system generated oxygen electrolytically , venting hydrogen to space. Bottled oxygen and solid fuel oxygen generation (SFOG) canisters, a system known as Vika , provided backup. Carbon dioxide was removed from the air by the Vozdukh system. Other byproducts of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, were removed by activated charcoal filters. Similar systems are presently used on

7488-450: The southern Pacific Ocean. Notation : On three occasions, a visiting Soyuz craft was transferred from the station's aft port to its forward port. This was done to accommodate upcoming Progress shuttles, which could only refuel the station using connections available at the aft port. Typically, the resident crew would first dock at the forward port, leaving the aft port available for Progress craft and visiting Soyuz support crews. When

7592-545: The station and the planned Buran in a manner similar to the US Manned Maneuvering Unit , but it was only used once, during EO-5 . In addition to module-specific equipment, Kvant -2, Kristall , Spektr and Priroda were each equipped with one Lyappa arm , a robotic arm which, after the module had docked to the core module's forward port, grappled one of two fixtures positioned on the core module's docking node. The arriving module's docking probe

7696-453: The station by cosmonauts conducting a total of eighty spacewalks over the course of the station's history. The station's assembly marked the beginning of the third generation of space station design, being the first to consist of more than one primary spacecraft (thus opening a new era in space architecture ). First generation stations such as Salyut 1 and Skylab had monolithic designs, consisting of one module with no resupply capability;

7800-412: The station consisted of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components. Power was provided by several photovoltaic arrays attached directly to the modules. The station was maintained at an orbit between 296 km (184 mi) and 421 km (262 mi) altitude and travelled at an average speed of 27,700 km/h (17,200 mph), completing 15.7 orbits per day. The station

7904-482: The station constantly lost altitude because of slight atmospheric drag , it needed to be boosted to a higher altitude several times each year. This boost was generally performed by Progress resupply vessels, although during the Shuttle- Mir programme the task was performed by US Space Shuttles, and, prior to the arrival of Kvant-1 , the engines on the core module could also accomplish the task. Attitude control

8008-476: The station during the week-long handover period between one crew and the next before returning with the departing crew, the station's life support system being able to support a crew of up to six for short periods. The station was occupied for a total of four distinct periods; 12 March–16 July 1986 ( EO-1 ), 5 February 1987 – 27 April 1989 (EO-2–EO-4), the record-breaking run from 5 September 1989 – 28 August 1999 (EO-5–EO-27), and 4 April–16 June 2000 ( EO-28 ). By

8112-563: The station's equipment in one module. In its completed configuration, the space station consisted of seven different modules, each launched into orbit separately over a period of ten years by either Proton-K rockets or Space Shuttle Atlantis . In addition to the pressurised modules, Mir featured several external components. The largest component was the Sofora girder, a large scaffolding-like structure consisting of 20 segments which, when assembled, projected 14 metres from its mount on Kvant -1. A self-contained thruster block,

8216-399: The station's ham radio. Two amateur radio call signs, U1MIR and U2MIR, were assigned to Mir in the late 1980s , allowing amateur radio operators on Earth to communicate with the cosmonauts. The station was also equipped with a supply of books and films for the crew to read and watch. NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger related how life on board Mir was structured and lived according to

8320-410: The station's launch. By the time of its decommission in 2001, the number of known different micro-organisms had grown to 140. As space stations get older, the problems with contamination get worse. Molds that develop aboard space stations can produce acids that degrade metal, glass and rubber. The molds in Mir were found growing behind panels and inside air-conditioning equipment. The molds also caused

8424-486: The station. The work was performed by Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh on the Soyuz T-13 mission during June 1985, in what was in the words of author David S. F. Portree "one of the most impressive feats of in-space repairs in history". This operation forms the basis of the 2017 Russian film Salyut 7 . All Soviet and Russian space stations were equipped with automatic rendezvous and docking systems, from

8528-430: The third leak was delivered by Soyuz T-12 , and the leak was subsequently fixed. On 11 February 1985, contact with Salyut 7 was lost. The station began to drift, making unpredictable movements in orbit, and all systems shut down. At this time the station was uninhabited, after the departure of Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov and Oleg Atkov , and before the next crew arrived. It was once again decided to attempt to repair

8632-424: The time required to set up, use, and stow. The shower, which featured a plastic curtain and fan to collect water via an airflow, was later converted into a steam room; it eventually had its plumbing removed and the space was reused. When the shower was unavailable, crew members washed using wet wipes, with soap dispensed from a toothpaste tube-like container, or using a washbasin equipped with a plastic hood, located in

8736-647: The tube so both men and women could use the same toilet. Waste was collected and transferred to the Water Recovery System, where it could be recycled back into drinking water, but was usually used to produce oxygen via the Elektron system. Mir featured a shower, the Bania , located in Kvant -2. It was an improvement on the units installed in previous Salyut stations, but proved difficult to use due to

8840-437: The water heater, so the cosmonauts used a powerful television light to heat fluids. Wall heaters were turned on only after all the frost had evaporated, in order to prevent water from entering equipment. Normal atmospheric humidity was achieved only at the end of July, nearly two months after docking. Salyut 7 Salyut 7 ( Russian : Салют-7 ; English: Salute 7 ) (a.k.a. DOS-6 , short for Durable Orbital Station )

8944-471: Was Moscow Time (MSK; UTC+03 ). The windows were covered during night hours to give the impression of darkness because the station experienced 16 sunrises and sunsets a day. A typical day for the crew began with a wake-up at 08:00 MSK, followed by two hours of personal hygiene and breakfast. Work was conducted from 10:00 until 13:00, followed by an hour of exercise and an hour's lunch break. Three more hours of work and another hour of exercise followed lunch, and

9048-575: Was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first crewed in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5 , and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15 . Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including 12 crewed and 15 uncrewed launches in total. Supporting spacecraft included the Soyuz T , Progress , and TKS spacecraft. It was part of the Soviet Salyut programme , and launched on 19 April 1982 on

9152-527: 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. It had a greater mass than any previous spacecraft . At the time it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit, succeeded by the International Space Station (ISS) after Mir 's orbit decayed . The station served as

9256-405: Was also made available to governments of countries such as France and India. Only the last three of the programme's fourteen missions consisted of an expedition to Mir but none resulted in an extended stay in the station: Various European astronauts visited Mir as part of several cooperative programmes: In the early 1980s, NASA planned to launch a modular space station called Freedom as

9360-696: Was connected to the socket that had previously been occupied by the core module's dorsal panel, which was by this point barely supplying 1 kW. The other panel, originally intended to be launched on Priroda , replaced the Kristall panel on Kvant -1 in November 1997, completing the station's electrical system. Mir was maintained in a near circular orbit with an average perigee of 354 km (220 mi) and an average apogee of 374 km (232 mi), travelling at an average speed of 27,700 km/h (17,200 mph) and completing 15.7 orbits per day. As

9464-481: Was decided on Cosmonaut's Day (12 April) 1985 to ship the flight model of the base block to the Baikonur Cosmodrome and conduct the systems testing and integration there. The module arrived at the launch site on 6 May, with 1100 of 2500 cables requiring rework based on the results of tests to the ground test model at Khrunichev . In October, the base block was rolled outside its cleanroom to carry out communications tests. The first launch attempt on 16 February 1986

9568-411: Was done to differentiate between it and the outwardly similar Salyut 6 that, for several months of its life, was in orbit at the same time. Following up the use of Kosmos 1267 on Salyut 6, the Soviets launched Kosmos 1443 on 2 March 1983 from a Proton SL-13. It docked with the station on 10 March, and was used by the crew of Soyuz T-9 . It jettisoned its recovery module on 23 August, and re-entered

9672-407: Was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-74 and mated to the orbiter's Orbiter Docking System . Atlantis then docked, via the module, to Kristall , then left the module behind when it undocked later in the mission. Various other external components, including three truss structures, several experiments and other unpressurised elements were also mounted to the exterior of

9776-519: Was launched as part of the Soviet Union's crewed spaceflight programme effort to maintain a long-term research outpost in space, and following the collapse of the USSR, was operated by the new Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA). As a result, most of the station's occupants were Soviet; through international collaborations such as the Interkosmos , Euromir and Shuttle– Mir programmes, the station

9880-575: Was launched with two collapsible, 15 m (49.2 ft) long arrays (providing 4 kW each) which were intended to be moved to Kvant -1 and installed on mounts which were attached during a spacewalk by the EO-8 crew in 1991. This relocation was begun in 1995, when the panels were retracted and the left panel installed on Kvant -1. By this time all the arrays had degraded and were supplying much less power. To rectify this, Spektr (launched in 1995), which had initially been designed to carry two arrays,

9984-491: 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). Mir was authorised by a 17 February 1976 decree, to design an improved model of

10088-470: Was maintained by a combination of two mechanisms; in order to hold a set attitude, a system of twelve control moment gyroscopes (CMGs, or "gyrodynes") rotating at 10,000  rpm kept the station oriented, six CMGs being located in each of the Kvant-1 and Kvant-2 modules. When the attitude of the station needed to be changed, the gyrodynes were disengaged, thrusters (including those mounted directly to

10192-507: Was modified to hold four, providing a total of 126 m (1360 ft ) of array with a 16 kW supply. Two further arrays were flown to the station on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-74 , carried on the docking module. The first of these, the Mir cooperative solar array, consisted of American photovoltaic cells mounted on a Russian frame. It was installed on the unoccupied mount on Kvant -1 in May 1996 and

10296-489: Was not perfect, being disturbed by five separate effects: Mir 's environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) provided or controlled atmospheric pressure , fire detection, oxygen levels, waste management and water supply. The highest priority for the ECLSS was the station's atmosphere, but the system also collected, processed, and stored waste and water produced and used by the crew—a process that recycles fluid from

10400-485: Was replaced by an X-ray detection system. To support experiments in cultivating plants in space, several different plant life support systems were installed: Oasis 1A, Vazon, Svetoblok, Magnetogravistat, Biogravistat and Fiton(Phyton)-3. It was in Fiton-3 that Arabidopsis became the first plants to flower and produce seeds in the zero gravity of space. Salyut 7 was the most advanced and comfortable space station of

10504-474: Was scrubbed when the spacecraft communications failed, but the second launch attempt, on 19 February 1986 at 21:28:23 UTC, was successful, meeting the political deadline. The orbital assembly of Mir began on 19 February 1986 with the launch of the Proton-K rocket. Four of the six modules which were later added ( Kvant -2 in 1989, Kristall in 1990, Spektr in 1995 and Priroda in 1996) followed

10608-473: Was successful and they were able to salvage the Salyut 7 station. Savinykh remained aloft for 169 days, returning to Earth in Soyuz T-14; Dzhanibekov returned to Earth in Soyuz T-13 with Grechko after spending 110 days on Salyut 7. Before deorbiting, Soyuz T-13 spent about 30 hours conducting rendezvous and docking tests. The effort to salvage Salyut 7 was, in the words of author David S. F. Portree, "one of

10712-409: Was surpassed by the ISS on 23 October 2010. It holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, with Valeri Polyakov spending 437 days and 18 hours on the station between 1994 and 1995. 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. Following the success of

10816-421: Was then retracted, and the arm raised the module so that it could be pivoted 90° for docking to one of the four radial docking ports. Photovoltaic (PV) arrays powered Mir . The station used a 28  volt DC supply which provided 5-, 10-, 20- and 50- amp taps. When the station was illuminated by sunlight, several solar arrays mounted on the pressurised modules provided power to Mir' s systems and charged

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