Space Stations
While the Americans clearly showed the world that they had mastered space flight and lunar landings, the Soviets had been pouring their efforts into developing a space station. The Salyut 1 space station was launched in 1972. Two months later another Russian vessel docked with the station and the cosmonauts entered the floating station for a record twenty-four days.
Although a great success, tragedy marred the mission
as a faulty valve leaked precious oxygen out into space. All three Soviet cosmonauts died on the way home from
oxygen deprivation.
After a few set backs, as Salyut 2 went out of control after takeoff and was destroyed, in 1987, Salyut 7
cosmonauts spent a record 237 days in flight.
The Mir
station, which is still in orbit, was launched in
1986 by the U.S.S.R. Several space vessels have docked with the
Mir
station, and American astronauts have even spent months
visiting the station.
Soviet Mir space station
Currently, the station is in serious need of repair.
Many people wish to fix it and keep it in orbit around the earth. Many others feel that it is becoming a safety
hazard to its occupants and should be allowed to reenter the atmosphere and either incinerate or crash into the
ocean.
Its fate was decided in the summer of 1999 as officials announced that after a last trip by cosmonauts in March or April of the year 2000, the controls on the space station would be set to allow it to enter the earth's atmosphere and burn up. However, in the early spring of 2000, foreign contributors donated enough money to the U.S.S.R. to help with repairs and keep the aging Mir in orbit for the time being.
Update: Despite emergency funds to keep the historic Russian space station in orbit, the U.S.S.R. announced in November 2000 that the Mir station will be allowed to crash into the Pacific Ocean near Australia in February 2001.
Not to be outdone, the U.S. launched Skylab, their own space station, into orbit in 1973. It was damaged during the launch, though, and needed repairs in space. Three different crews visited the station and conducted hundreds of experiments and observations.
