NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
The Mir space station re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and broke up into several large fragments, after 15 years in space, on Friday.
News reports from Fiji said that some people in the western division and the Mamanucas saw Mir crash. They said it emitted a greenish-blue colour.
They also claimed that it was at a level much lower than what was predicted by the Russian authorities.
Mir was 30 meters long by 33 meters wide (98 X 108 ft.) and had a total mass of 140 metric tons.
The station orbited the earth at an altitude of 375 km to 410 km every 92 minutes.
In Russian, Mir meant peace. The space station was recognised as an international symbol for peace, housing cosmonauts and astronauts from 12 nations, including Russia, the United States, Canada, Syria, Afghanistan, Germany, Great Britain, and Japan.
Over 20,000 space experiment sessions were performed in its history. Mir was considered a landmark on the road of scientific progress.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
