Mir space station launched by Soviet Union

Mir space station was launched by the Soviet Union on 20^th February 1986. It remained in orbit for almost 15 years. In contrast, the United States had launched their first space station Skylab on 14^th May 1973.

Mir Space Station was disposed off and fell back to Earth on 23^rd March 2001. Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov had spent a record 438 days in space aboard Mir.