Mir crashes safely in South Pacific, ending 15-year mission

Mir, the world`s first space station, crashed and broke up in the northeast part of the South Pacific after entering Earth`s atmosphere at 2:59 p.m. (Korean Standard Time) Friday. The Russian Space Agency (RSA) announced that the planned destruction of the Mir went smoothly and that all debris had fallen into the sea, thus ending the space station`s 15-year mission.

The space station broke up into an estimated 1,500 pieces weighing a combined 20 to 27 tons. The debris was scattered over a 6,000km by 200km area centered around latitude 44.4 degrees south and longitude 150 degrees west, foreign news agencies reported. A CNN correspondent in Nadi, Fiji, said the burning debris of Mir was seen streaking across the sky above the South Pacific island before crashing into an open stretch of ocean. He described it as an incredible show.

Related Sites:
- Mir Space Station
- International space station Alpha
- NASA's Skywatch

Kwon Ki-Tae kkt@donga.com