How will the Mir space station be deorbited?
When it was launched in 1986, the Russian Mir space station was only supposed to have a life span of about five years, but it proved to have more longevity than anyone expected. Feb. 20, 2001, marked the 15th anniversary of the station’s launch, but old-age has finally caught up with the spacecraft. Mir has been plagued by technical and structural problems, and in November 2000, the Russian government announced that it would destroy the space station. Courtesy of NASA Mir space station was the jewel of Russia’s space program for more than 15 years. The process of deorbiting the Mir space station has already begun. A Russian cargo ship, the Progress , was launched on Jan. 24, 2001, carrying twice its normal amount of fuel. The extra fuel has been used to fire the Progress’ thrusters and push the 137-ton station into a controlled descent through the Earth’s atmosphere. The descent of Mir has been made in stages. The first firing of Progress’ thrusters dropped Mir from its original altitu
