A Time to Build Up Trivia Quiz

The first stage of Mir (a Russian word meaning peace or world) was launched on 19 February 1986, and placed into low earth orbit. This module was basically the living space for those on the station, with two separate cabins for the cosmonauts, as well as shared space for entertainment and work. The module had six docking ports: one at each end of the cylindrical module, and four arranged in a spoke-like array, ready to have four of the later modules permanently attached. The first additional module was fixed into one of the axial ports; the other one remained in use for the use of supply vessels.

This first module was initially unmanned, Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov arrived on 15 March. EO-1 had launched two days earlier, and took that time to match their orbit to that of Mir. They remained on Mir for 52 days, before departing for a similarly-long stay on Salyut 7 (an earlier space station still in action), and returning for a final 21 days on Mir. The mission, the only one to involve a crew visiting two different space stations, finished on 16 July. The mission basically involved checking of the space station's systems and equipment.

The first expansion module arrived at Mir on 31 March 1987, and was locked into position on the aft end of the first module. There was a problem with the docking - and the two crew members on board at the time had to conduct an EVA (extra-vehicular activity, or space walk) to sort it out. The problem turned out to be debris left behind by an earlier communication vessel; once that was removed, the two modules were locked together to form one, with Kvant-1's rear docking port available for craft that had previously used Mir's.

This new segment greatly expanded Mir's capacity for research. It was officially designated as an astrophysics module, and included an X-ray telescope, a UV telescope, a magnetic spectrometer, and other devices designed for specific investigations. This equipment needed a lot of electricity to run it, so several extra solar panels were later added to this module.

The name Kvant-1 translates into English as Quantum-1. A quantum, in physics, is the smallest amount of any entity, so this name emphasizes the way in which the discrete components were assembled to produce Mir.

The primary purpose of Kvant-2, which was locked into one of Mir's four radial ports on 6 December 1989, was to provide better life support systems, add an EVA airlock, and deliver a range of new experiments and scientific equipment. While EVAs had been performed before this, it was an awkward process that involved depressurizing the docking port of the core module. One of the new pieces of equipment was an incubator that was used to hatch quail eggs and observe how they fared in space.

There was also a shower, as well as a system for regenerating water from urine. Talk about luxury!

Arriving on 10 June 1990, this was the last module of Mir to come from the USSR, an entity that was in the process of dissolution. Originally designated Kvant-3, it carried another new set of equipment, some to augment previous research projects, some to set up new ones. Its focus was on material processing, astronomical observations, and biotechnology experimentation. Unlike the previous modules, its solar panels were collapsible; one was later transferred to Kvant-1 in 1995, to boost its power supply.

The Kristall (Crystal) module did not stay in the same place for its entire time. It was moved around several times: once for the arrival of the next module, and again to allow the Space Shuttle Atlantis to dock in 1995. This inconvenience was obviated when the Atlantis delivered a docking module that was added to Kristall so that future shuttle dockings could be done with Kristall in situ, and the module moved one last time to its final spot.

Following the dissolution of the USSR, Russia and the United States undertook some joint space ventures, involving Mir and the Space Shuttles. Spektr (a name meaning spectrum) was the first module involved in this program; a Russian product, it was designed to provide a living area for American astronauts and a research space for NASA's projects. These experiments focused on observations of the surface of the Earth and its atmosphere. The module arrived on 1 June 1995.

The module's large solar arrays provided about as much electricity as the other modules combined until it was damaged in June 1997 by a collision with an uncrewed cargo craft delivering supplies to Mir. The module's hull was punctured, causing it to depressurize. The module was sealed off (to allow the rest of Mir to continue functioning), and left unused, but some power connections were reestablished, allowing some of the electricity from Spektr to be used by the other modules.

When the Space shuttle Atlantis arrived to bring a relief crew to Mir on 27 June 1995, it was the first time that the American craft docked, and became attached to Mir for a period of 5 days - making that temporarily the largest object in orbit. However, the docking procedure was tricky, due to the risk of damage to the nearby solar panels. the Kristall module had to be moved out of the way first, which was going to be problematic when the final module arrived.

This was resolved by the delivery, on the next shuttle visit, of a docking module that fit into the end of Kristall, and allowed the shuttle to dock without any need to move things around.

This was the only module of US origin.

The final module of Mir, launched on 23 April 1996, had electrical issues on its journey, and it was feared that it might not be able to reach its goal, as it would not have enough power for the multiple docking attempts required by previous modules. Fortunately, it was successful on the first attempt. After docking, Priroda was rewired to share the power provided by the other modules.

Priroda (whose name means nature) was a truly multinational collaboration, with twelve different nations sending up an assortment of experiments, primarily designed to map Earth's resources from space, testing a number of different methods for doing so. Techniques for analysing oceans and atmospheric activity were also investigated.

With the arrival of Priroda, the construction of Mir was complete.

Mir was powered by a number of solar panels, the rectangular grids in the image. They were not all orientated in the same direction, so that at any time some would have the optimal position in regard to the sun. Each panel could rotate through 180 degrees, as the sun's position relative to Mir changed during orbit.

While Mir was on the daylight side of the Earth, the panels stored energy in batteries which were then the source of power while Mir was in darkness.

This structure was added to the Kvant-1 module in 1991. One of its purposes was to provide a site for extra-vehicular experiments. In 1992 a thruster unit that could be used to help control Mir's orientation in space was placed on its end. Placing the unit well away from the station increased the torque, significantly reducing the amount of energy needed to make adjustments. Construction of the girder was also a chance to investigate some new techniques for space construction.

There was regular traffic between the Earth's surface and the space station, and there was q docking port at each end used by these spacecraft. (Not the Space Shuttle - it was much larger, and used the docking port described earlier.) In this image, there is a Progress-M supply ship on the left end, and a Soyuz-TM attached on the right.

The Progress vessels were cargo supply ships, one of which damaged the Spektr module. The Soyuz ships carried passengers to and fro.