The first crew to visit Mir was Vladimir Solovjov and Leonid Kisim. The arrived at the station March 15 1986, one month after it had been launched into orbit. Their mission was basically to test that the station was working OK. They arrived in Soyuz T-15. In an interviev the same day they seemed to be having a good time and were speaking quite freely, something that was unusuall for Russian TV broadcasts from space. They were very impressed over their new working area. They described the station as they were approaching it in their Soyuz as a great sea-gull. Of course then the station did only consist of the Core module and its two large solar panels. They said that the Mir was something quite different from the Saljut 7 station, it was crowded and filled with equipment every were, but Mir was something else.
The Mir was large with individual sleeping quarters, a shower, a kitchen and with walls that was not packed with equipment from bottom to top. On the Saljut stations people slept among the science equipment and did not have much privacy. Now of course the station is just like Saljut 7. It's walls is packed with equipment brought up over the years, the shower doesn't work either, at least that's what I have heard. It is a big problem one is trying to avoid on the new ISS. Back when the station was new they said the station had a computer system far more advanced than any station before but now it is one of Mir's great worries. It is old, outdated and has crashed several times causing the station to loose it's orientation to the sun.
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Saljut 7 station, from left, Vladimir Dsjanibekov, Svetlana Savitskaja,
Vladimir Solovjov, Igor Volk,
Leonid Kisim, and Oleg Atkov.
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Image of the Mir core module with it's equipment packed walls.
and a image of the Mir core shower when it was working.
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VISIONS OF THE FUTURE (1986-2000)
When the Americans was paralyzed over the Challenger accident and their space program almost stopped, the Russians was on their way to beating the Americans in space. They had just launched a new type of space station, designed for expansion and planned several Mars and asteroid missions. By the year 2000 they would be far ahead of the Americans, they were also working on two types of shuttles, one known as Buran. The Russian way was to use the old rockets, just improve them. The 30 year old Soyuz and Progress ships would still be used. The old Proton would still be an important rocket, it ways 680 metric tons and can lift 20 tons, more than enough for most missions. Their rockets was old and used fuels the Americans had long ago stopped using because they weren't powerful enough, alcohol and hydrazin. This was also the Russians strong side, the rockets were old but you could trust them to get the job done almost every time. The Americans rockets were driven by oxygen and hydrogen, a powerful but dangerous mix.
But the Russians had some new plans also. They were developing two new shuttles, Buran and a smaller shuttle, very much like the European Hermés. The small shuttle weighing about 15 metric tons would lift of with a medium rocket, weighing 400 tons, and the bigger shuttle (Buran) with a larger rocket.
The Russians had a big problem, advanced instruments, they didn't have the technology to develop them. They wanted partners from outside Soviet to deliver them, and to do so they had to get more open about their space program and show the world more of what they were going to do. The Mars Phobos probe was an example of this new way. The spacecraft had instruments from Sweden, Finland, France and West-Germany.
As you know the visions never came through, they have almost no funding because of a government with no money. They can't afford any of their many planned planetary missions, their shuttle plans have been scraped and all they have left is the old Mir, which have had enough problems. The planned Mir 2 plans were also scraped but some of the modules designed for the Mir 2 will live on in the new International Space Station.
MIR EXPANSION
The Mir space station was the first station designed for expansion. If it was not for the fall of the Soviet union it would have been fully expanded by 1990. The space program got less and less funding and had to cut down on their plans, until they had none but the Mir and it has now been limping along for a long time, living long passed it's designed life time. The U.S. gave the Russian space program life through giving them a lot of money by letting American astronauts live onboard the station. The Americans also funded the building of two new modules, giving them more science capabilities (Spektr and Priroda). The Americans stay was to give them experience of long time space travel and life onboard a space station for the new joint venture, ISS which has been delayed several times due to the Russian's lack of funds. But it is now on it's way, with the launch of the first module, the FGB.
MIR MODULES
| Year
| Module
| Mass
(metric tons)
| Guidance
| Function
| Solar panel(s)
| Power output
KW
|
| 1986
| MIR CORE
| 20,9
| Thruster and electronically controled gyrodynes
| Living quarters, life support, power, propulsion, docking and control
| 3
| 10,1
|
| 1987
| KVANT 1
| 11,05
| Sofora thruster boom
| Progress & Soyuz docking and Astronomy, some control & life support
| 1
| 6
|
| 1989
| KVANT 2
| 18,5
| Thruster and electronically-controlled gyrodynes
| Air lock, life support, control and power distribution
| 2
| 6,9
|
| 1990
| KRISTALL
| 19,6
| Thruster and electronically controled gyrodynes
| Materials production, remote sensing and docking port
| 2
| 5,5-8,4
|
| 1995
| SPEKTR
| 19,6
| Thruster and electronically controled gyrodynes
| Earth observation, electric power
| 4
| 50% of station power
|
| 1995
| DOCKING
| ?
| --
| Provide docking for the U.S. shuttle
| --
| --
|
| 1996
| PRIRODA
| 19,7
| Thruster and electronically-controlled gyrodynes
| Remote sensing capability and earth science
| 1
| retractable
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