Mir’s controlled fiery plunge into the ocean was a bittersweet moment for space aficionados, Russian and American alike. Assembled module by module starting in 1986, it served as the base for all space-based research in Russia. Experiments in microgravity, biology, chemistry and not least of all, human endurance in weightless conditions, took place there – a Russian cosmonaut set a record, staying on board the station in excess of 430 days. It was also a test of East-West collaboration in the field of science: from 1995-1998 seven U.S. astronauts lived on board Mir as part of the Shuttle-Mir program, a prelude to the cooperation between the two countries on the International Space Station.

On this day, March 23, in 2001, in its 15th year — twice more than it was expected to survive — Mir descended into the atmosphere and broke up over the Pacific Ocean. It completed 86,331 orbits during its life, and provided a temporary home to 104 people.

Not everyone was so ready to see the destruction of the station. In the last few weeks before the final descent, Communist members of the Russian Duma (parliament) and protesters tried to prevent the de-orbiting. An American millionaire, the telecom mogul Walt Andersen, reportedly offered to salvage the space station and to repair it under his own funds (possibly for use as a space-based movie studio). But it was not to be – Russian commitments to the ISS left precious little resources for the aging Mir.