MIR: out of orbit 23.03.2001"Nowadays even the future isn't what it used to be." Russia's Mir Space Station was in orbit for over 15 years. The first element of the station was launched on February 20, 1986, though the current Mir Space Station is a complex of several modules that have been pieced together over the years. The total mass of the station (including docked spaceships) is over 140 tons and the total volume of the different modules is about 400 cubic meters. |
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Mir has come down from an orbit where it has been traveling at about 18,000 miles an hour. Two thirds of it burned up and was disintegrated as it passed through the earth's atmosphere. About a third of the Station survived re-entry and impact in a remote area of the South Pacific Ocean. The final path of Mir cut a swath through the atmosphere that was thousands of miles long and yhundred of miles wide. [from http://www.parallelgraphics.com/vrml/mir/]  |
