Ever since June 1997, when Mir suffered a serious accident, her problems have multiplied. There is increasing concern about the safety of the astronauts remaining on the Space Station.
Mir: the latest news
27 August 1999
After over 13 years in orbit the Mir Space Station was finally abandoned. The three-man crew abandoned Mir, leaving it empty for the first time since 1987.
1 June 1999
Russia has confirmed that it will abandon Mir in August. It is likely that the Space Station will slowly fall back to Earth and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
20 February 1999
Thirteen years after it's launch, a new three-man crew took off for Mir in what may be Mir's last manned mission. Russia will probably abandon Mir divert its attention to the new International Space Station.
31 January 1998
The Russian Soyuz rocket has docked with Mir. Soyuz was carrying three cosmonauts: Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin, who will replace the two Russians now on Mir, and Frenchman Leopold Eyharts, who will spend three weeks on Mir and return to Earth with Solovyov and Vinogradov. The new Russian crew, who join American astronaut Andrew Thomas, will spend six months on the Space Station.
Soyuz also brought six salamanders to Mir, which will be studied to see how they react to conditions of weightlessness.
28 January 1998
The Space Shuttle Endeavor has undocked from Mir and will return to earth after flying around of the Space Station to inspect for damage. Endeavor dropped off and collected over 3 tonnes of experiments and supplies. This mission was the first by Endeavor to Mir: all previous American missions to Mir were with the Shuttle Atlantis.
See images from the mission. http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov/photos/
25 January 1998
Space Shuttle Endeavor has successfully docked with Mir to drop off Andrew Thomas, the last American astronaut scheduled to spend time there. He will replace David Wolf, who has spent the last four months aboard Mir. Thomas, aged 46, who was born in Australia, last went into space in May 1996. He plans to spend four months aboard the Space Station conducting scientific experiments in the Priroda module.
16 January 1998
The two Russian cosmonauts completed a record-breaking space-walk outside the Mir. They were trying to repair the leaking hatch on the airlock of the Kvant-2 research module. Commander Anatoly Solovyov has now spent more than 70 hours walking in space, longer than any other person. It was his sixteenth space-walk in ten years.
24 November 1997
All computer systems are operating normally after the second failure in a week. Two units on a new computer, which was only installed in October, had to be replaced after failing. When the computers fail Mir cannot automatically control its position relative to the Sun, so its solar batteries cannot work properly.
A space walk is still planned for 5 December to look at the leaking hatch used when cosmonauts leave the Space Station for spacewalks, but this may have to be delayed.
3 November 1997
Russian cosmonauts Solovyov and Vinogradov successfully completed their fourth EVA (space-walk) in a busy schedule of repairs. However, when the cosmonauts returned to the Space Station, they discovered a problem: one of the airlocks attached to the Kvant 2 module was leaking. They had to use the Kvant 2 module as an airlock so that they could return to the Cor module and remove their space suits. Although there was no great danger, the problem is another setback for the Mir programme.
During the space-walk the two men released a replica model of the Sputnik satellite, to commemorate the launch of the first ever artificial satellite in space.
The series of recent repairs have greatly improved Mir's power supply, and will allow more experiments that make a heavy demand on it.
20 October 1997
The latest internal space walk of the damaged Spektr module was uncompleted after more than six and a half hours, because of the danger of running out of air.
The two Russian cosmonauts were performing the spacewalk to try to increase Mir's power by re-connecting the solar panels on Spektr to the Space Station's computer so that they could point at the Sun. While the Russians were inside Spektr, the new American astronaut, David Wolf waited in the Soyuz escape capsule in case something went wrong and they had to evacuate the station.
A long series of space-walks is planned, and the crew hope to do more repairs soon.
3 October 1997
The Space Shuttle Atlantis has successfully undocked from Mir, and will return to Earth with astronaut Mike Foale. After undocking, the Mir crew released a pressure valve on board the Spektr module, causing air to be blown into the module to test it for holes. A few minutes later, both crews could see a spray coming from the base of a solar panel. The Mir crew will now find it easier to make repairs.
26 September 1997
The Space Shuttle Atlantis docked successfully with the Space Station. On board is a new crew member, David Wolf, who is to replace the British-born astronaut Mike Foale, and some spare parts for Mir. Two of the Shuttle crew will perform a space walk to try and find the hole in the damaged Spektr module caused by the collision in June.
See images from the mission. http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov/photos/
23 September 1997
The problems with the computer have been fixed. The crew have replaced faulty computer parts, loaded new software, and restarted MirŐs gyroscopes, that point Mir toward the sun.
22 September 1997
The main computer crashes, and the fan on the air purifying system breaks. The Station's attitude control systems, which keep the solar panels pointing towards the Sun, fail, and the Station loses almost all power.
Brown droplets are discovered leaking from the engines on the Soyuz escape craft.
15 September 1997
The main computer crashes, leaving Mir with no attitude control and limited power. Russian maintenance procedures come in for severe criticism.
8 September 1997
The main computer crashes, disrupting Mir's attitude control systems and power supply.
25 August 1997
The main oxygen-generating system, recently restarted, fails, along with its backup system, leaving the crew with no way to manufacture oxygen. The system is hurriedly repaired.
18 August 1997
The main computer system fails during the routine docking of a cargo ship. The attitude control system breaks down. In order to save power, the crew have to shut down the main oxygen-generating system.
5 August 1997
Officials announce that Mir's oxygen generators have repeatedly broken down over the past week.
17 July 1997
An astronaut pulls out a computer cable by mistake, causing a serious power failure. The Station tumbles unpredictably for several hours.
16 July 1997
One of the astronauts is prevented on medical grounds from making essential repairs to the Spektr solar panels. The job is delayed by about a week.
14 July 1997
One of the astronauts reports an irregular heart beat, raising fears about the health and safety of the crew.
3 July 1997
Gyroscopic guidance devices, which are supposed to keep the solar panels pointing to the Sun, fail. As an emergency measure, Mir's orientation has to be adjusted by firing rocket engines.
25 June 1997
Mir collides with a Progress cargo ship during a practice docking. The Spektr module is punctured. One solar battery is ruined and the cables to three others have to be cut. The Station's power supply is reduced to half its normal level.
For more detailed discussions of the latest news from Mir, the astronauts' safety and the future of the Space Station, see the ABC news site.
