MIR: As early as 1998, the decision was made to deorbit MIR: every dollar spent on MIR was a dollar taken from the ISS. The Russians initially agreed, but reluctantly. Various proposals arose to save it, right up until the final day. On March 23, 2001, it deorbited: it entered the atmosphere above Japan and was torn to pieces, first the solar panels, then the protruding structures. The inhabitants of Fiji saw the sad spectacle of eight flaming streaks in the sky, followed by sonic booms. MIR represents to the Russians what the Apollo Program represents to the Americans. On MIR, in over 13 years, 2/3 of the time in orbit of all astronauts was spent, 27 long-stay expeditions, 69 unmanned dockings, 11,762 total days spent on board (87% with Russians, 8% Americans, 5% others), 3,640 days of continuous occupation, 104 people (42 Russians, 44 Americans, 18 others), 9 shuttles docked, 742 days on MIR for Sergei Avdeev, Enormous amount of scientific and technological experiments. 149 spacewalks by 36 cosmonauts, for 691 hours (29 days), Anatoli Soloviev spent 74 hours and 41 minutes on spacewalks. It was decommissioned 40 years after Yuri Gagarin’s flight (12 April 1961).
