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German astronaut Klaus Dietrich Flade looks out of the window of a bus that brings him and Russian cosmonauts to the spacecraft that will take them to the Mir space station, on March 17, 1992, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TM-14 spacecraft left the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 17 and docked at the Kvant rear port of the MIR on March 19, returning to earth after almost 8 days in space, on March 25, 1992. The MIR (Russian word for Peace, World), was a space station operated by the Soviet Union, and later by the Russian Confederation. It was built between 1986 and 1996 and operated for fifteen years until March 23, 2001. It holds the record for the longest continuous presence in space, eight days short of ten years. In its fifteen year lifespan it was occupied for a total of twelve and a half years. The station was made accessible for astronauts and cosmonauts from thirteen different nations. — Sven Creutzmann—Getty Images

Assemblers, Ivan Volchenkov and Nikolay Petrov, at a recently de-classified aerospace facility with one of several newly designed spacesuits to be delivered to the mir space station in 1992.

Valery Korzun of Russia, Claudie Andre Deshays and Leopold Eyharts of France signal to a rescue-helicopter in a lake in the outskirts of Moscow on May 31 during a training session for the landing of the space modul into water. Leopold Eyharts was a back up for Claudie Andre Deshays for a space flight on Russian orbital Mir station, shedulled for Summer of 1996.

The STS-76 crew took this 70-mm picture of Russia's Mir space station over Australia. On March 12, 2001, it was reported that the aging Mir space station was due to descend into earth's atmosphere on March 20, where it will eventually ditch into the Pacific Ocean.

An undated photo of the combined crews of Mir and U.S. space shuttle Endevor.

Astronaut Shannon Lucid, who is concluding a U.S. record setting six-month voyage aboard Mir, checks..

STS-79 astronauts enjoy this view of the Mir complex backdropped against the blackness of space over Earth's horizon. A thin blue line of airglow runs parallel with Earth's horizon on Sep. 24, 1996. Mir was nearing the end of its existence as Russia planned to steer the craft out of orbit in late February 2001.

Two Russian cosmonauts hold on to a 14-meter girder after they discarded a faulty thruster engine on April 11, 1998. This was the first of three planned space walks. The cosmonauts tossed a spent thruster engine into space and examined a faulty valve during the spacewalk designed to keep the aging space station running smoothly and pointing toward the sun.

Russian rescue officers carry French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haignere out of "Souyz TM- 29" space craft Aug. 28, 1999, near Arkalyk in Kazakhstan, where the international space crew had landed. Viktor Afanasiev, Jean-Pierre Haignere and Sergei Avdeyev probably were the last crew on Russian Mir space station, Russian officers said.

Russian Space Station Mir burns up as it enters the earth's atmosphere at over Nadi, Fiji, on March 23, 2001. After 15 years of service in outer space, 12 of which saw continuous manning of both cosmonauts and astronauts, male and female, Mir made its re-entry to earth without incident.

A scale model of the Mir space station stands in its Mission Control center, at Korolyov, outside Moscow on March 7, 2001. Russian space officials set March 20 as the date for dumping the Mir space station, saying they want to wait until the craft drifts closer to Earth before giving it the final shove toward a fiery plunge into the Pacific Ocean.

German astronaut Klaus Dietrich Flade looks at the spacecraft that will take him to the Mir space station, in Baikonur,

Sven Creutzmann—Getty Images

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See the Most Remarkable Moments From the Mir Space Station

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Feb 20, 2016

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