Caption:
The Russian space station Mir, ('peace'), in orbit. Mir was launched February 1986. The space station orginally consisted of a core module and docking facilities. A variety of science modules were then adding, increasing Mir's mass from its original 21 tonnes to over 100 tonnes. This image was taken from the shuttle Atlantis during mission STS-71, when Atlantis docked with Mir for a week of joint experiments, (June 27, 1995-July 7, 1995).