Orbital Focus - International Spaceflight Facts and Figures
carousel image
 
Mir Space Station


Tyneside, UK
2024 Mar 29
Friday, Day 89

Curated by:



























Mir Diary - 2001

A Chronology of mission events in orbit and on the ground. Mir existed for fifteen years growing from the original 20 tonne core module to a massive 130+ tonnes.

Date Time (UTC) Event
2001 Jan 1 18:00 Mir starts the year 2001 in an orbit of 299 x 320 kilometres at 51.6 degrees inclination
2001 Jan 8 Ground controllers encounter problems in controlling Mir
2001 Jan 18 01:15 Start of a routine 15-minute communications session with Mir which reveals that onboard electrical power has gone below permitted limits and the station girodines have shut down, temporarily affecting the station stability
2001 Jan 24 04:28 Progress M1-5 cargo supply ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz-U rocket for rendezvous with Mir - its mission is to bring about a controlled re-entry and destruction of the space station
2001 Jan 24 04:37 Progress M1-5 separates from its rocket and enters 190 x 231 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination
2001 Jan 24 10:30 Approximate time - Progress M1-5 raises its orbit to 194 x 250 kilometres
2001 Jan 25 05:19 Progress M-43 separates from Kvant rear-facing docking port and moves away from the Mir complex into an orbit of 275 x 284 kilometres - it is ready to be re-docked if Progress M1-5 is unsuccessful
2001 Jan 26 17:44 Space Shuttle Atlantis installed on Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center
2001 Jan 27 05:33 Progress M1-5 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 339 x 355 kilometres
2001 Jan 27 Mir's managers decide after the successful docking by Progress M1-5 that the emergency crew will not be needed
2001 Jan 29 02:58 After a retro-firing of its manoeuvring engine, Progress M-43 enters the upper atmosphere and burns up as a result of frictional heating
2001 Mar 16 For a second time, Discovery manoeuvring engines are fired repeatedly over a period of one hour - this raises the ISS orbit to 377 x 390 kilometres
2001 Mar 23 00:32 Mir orbit is 212 x 217 kilometres at 51.6 degrees inclination - Progress M1-5 fires its manoeuvring thrusters for 21 minutes to begin the de-orbit process
2001 Mar 23 02:01 Mir orbit is 190 x 219 kilometres - Progress M1-5 fires its manoeuvring thrusters for a further 23 minutes
2001 Mar 23 05:07 Mir orbit is 151 x 215 kilometres - Progress M1-5 fires its manoeuvring thrusters and its main thrust chamber for a further 23 minutes and ensure re-entry
2001 Mar 23 05:43 Re-entry heating starts the burn-up of Mir
2001 Mar 23 05:48 Mir is a little over 80 kilometres above the Earth and is sheathed in glowing plasma generated by frictional heating - passage of the individual modules, which have separated from each other, is observed from the ground in Fiji
2001 Mar 23 05:50 Burning fragmentsof Mir are seen from Fiji
2001 Mar 23 05:59 Any major surviving fragments of the Mir Complex hit the Pacific Ocean surface near 40 degrees South, 160 degrees West
Copyright © Robert Christy, all rights reserved
Reproduction of this web page or any of its content without permission from the website owner is prohibited