This picture shows MIR's anticipated arrival zone. MIR did splash down within this predicted zone.
Courtesy of the Russian Space Agency
Space Stations Galore
News story originally written on March 29, 2001
This is a special week for space stations! The Russian space station MIR entered the Earth's atmosphere
, breaking apart and burning up. MIR came down on March 23, 2001, ending its 15 year mission.
Most of the station burned up upon re-entry. The pieces that did not burn up completely, fell into the Pacific Ocean
. No one was hurt by these falling pieces. So, this week saw the end of the MIR space station.
But, Russia's work on space stations is far from complete. The 2nd crew of the International Space Station (ISS) is commanded by Russian Yury Usachev.
The other 2 crew members currently onboard are Americans Jim Voss and Susan Helms. This crew is still getting settled on the ISS. They spent a busy first week activating and testing the communications systems and scientific experiments onboard the station.
The Endeavour shuttle will visit the ISS in late April. This Endeavour mission will bring the Canadian-built robotic arm for the ISS and the Italian-built module named Raffaello. Raffaello includes more research equipment for the ISS. This certainly is an international effort!
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