As the world changed below, Mir kept working

(CNN) - When the first component of the Mir space station was launched in February 1986, the world it left was a very different place than the world it looks down upon today from 390 kilometers (240 miles) up in space.

Back then, Mikhail Gorbachev was still in power, running the Soviet Union, which still existed. Cold War competition was still driving a space race between the Soviets and the Americans, as it had since the launch of Sputnik in 1959.

While America had concentrated on moon landings and development of a reusable space shuttle, the Soviets focused on orbiting space stations, where cosmonauts could spend long periods of time doing scientific experiments and learning about the effects of extended stays in space on the human body. The first of these, Salyut 1, was launched in 1971.

Mir-aculous mileage

The main module of Mir, the next generation of space stations, was launched unmanned 15 years later, with cosmonauts Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyou docking up in a separate space capsule a short time later.

Except for a two brief gaps, the space station has been manned continuously ever since. It has made more than 60,000 trips around the Earth.

The station is modular; not all of the components that make up what is commonly referred to today as Mir (the word means both "world" and "peace" in Russian) were sent up in 1986.

However, the cylindrical main Mir module -- which provides living quarters for from two to six people -- has been orbiting now for nearly 12 years, seven years longer than planned. It is just 13 meters (43 feet) long, with a diameter of 4 meters (13 feet).

In 1987, a second module named Kvant, which contains astrophysics and life support equipment, was sent up and hooked onto the main module. Kvant 2, a biological research station, was added in 1989, and a year later came Kristall, where research is done on how to produce materials in space.

Two of the modules -- Spektr and Priroda -- are comparatively recent, attached in 1995 and 1996 respectively. Both of these modules carry Russian and American equipment designed to conduct studies of the Earth's natural resources and atmosphere.

Spektr was badly damaged by a recent collision between it and an unmanned cargo ship linking up to the station.

Americans and Russians together in space

The history of Mir took a turn in 1994 when the United States and Russia, which took over the space program after the Soviet Union disintegrated, agreed to conduct joint missions aboard the space station.

The Russians agreed to extend the use of Mir past its original design life of seven years, and a docking module was attached to Mir to allow American space shuttles to link up with the Russian space station.

These joint U.S.-Russian missions are the first phase of a program to build an International Space Station. Mir and its resident cosmonauts and astronauts will be used in construction of the ISS which, like Mir, will be sent up to space in pieces over a period of years with a goal of having the station in orbit by 2002.

The ISS will be principally built by the United States and Russia with help from Japan, Canada and the European Space agency.

ISS falling off course?

The first piece of the ISS was supposed to go into space in November 1997. However, the financially-troubled Russian Space Agency has missed deadlines in supplying needed equipment, which means that launch has been postponed until at least June 1998.

The recent spate of mishaps on Mir pose additional obstacles for ISS, as project planners consider whether astronauts training on Mir for the mission are being put at risk and whether conditions on the Russian space station are conducive to research.

Related stories:

• Space station construction under way
• Cash woes hobble once glorious Russian space program
• Mir's woes raise doubts about U.S.-Russian cooperation
• Ten years and still going