Editing Mir (section)

====Post-Soviet period====
[[File:Mir from Soyuz TM-17.jpg|thumb|A view of ''Mir'' from [[Soyuz TM-17]] on 3 July 1993 showing ongoing docking operations at the station]]
The [[Mir EO-10|EO-10]] crew, launched aboard [[Soyuz TM-13]] on 2 October 1991, was the last crew to launch from the USSR and continued the occupation of ''Mir'' during [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|the fall of the Soviet Union]]. The crew launched as Soviet citizens and returned to Earth on 25 March 1992 as Russians. The newly formed [[Russian Federal Space Agency]] (Roscosmos) was unable to finance the unlaunched ''[[Spektr]]'' and ''[[Priroda]]'' modules, instead putting them into storage and ending ''Mir's'' second expansion.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mireo10">{{cite web|title=Mir EO-10|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mireo10.htm|access-date=19 April 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407211042/http://astronautix.com/flights/mireo10.htm|archive-date=7 April 2007}}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}}<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica Spektr">{{cite web|title=Spektr|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spektr.htm|access-date=21 April 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407052343/http://astronautix.com/craft/spektr.htm|archive-date=7 April 2007}}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}}<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica Priroda">{{cite web|title=Priroda|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|author=Mark Wade|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/priroda.htm|access-date=21 April 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070410031659/http://astronautix.com/craft/priroda.htm|archive-date=10 April 2007}}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}}

The first human mission flown from an independent [[Kazakhstan]] was [[Soyuz TM-14]], launched on 17 March 1992, which carried the [[Mir EO-11|EO-11]] crew to ''Mir'', docking on 19 March before the departure of Soyuz TM-13. On 17 June, Russian President [[Boris Yeltsin]] and US President [[George H. W. Bush]] announced what would later become the Shuttle-''Mir'' programme, a cooperative venture which proved useful to the cash-strapped Roskosmos (and led to the eventual completion and launch of ''Spektr'' and ''Priroda''). [[Mir EO-12|EO-12]] followed in July, alongside a brief visit by French astronaut [[Michel Tognini]].<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}} The following crew, [[Mir EO-13|EO-13]], began preparations for the Shuttle-''Mir'' programme by flying to the station in a modified spacecraft, [[Soyuz TM-16]] (launched on 26 January 1993), which was equipped with an [[APAS-89]] docking system rather than the usual probe-and-drogue, enabling it to dock to ''Kristall'' and test the port which would later be used by US Space Shuttles. The spacecraft also enabled controllers to obtain data on the dynamics of docking a spacecraft to a space station off the station's longitudinal axis, in addition to data on the structural integrity of this configuration via a test called ''Rezonans'' conducted on 28 January. [[Soyuz TM-15]], meanwhile, departed with the EO-12 crew on 1 February.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}}

Throughout the period following the collapse of the USSR, crews on ''Mir'' experienced occasional reminders of the [[History of post-Soviet Russia#Economic depression and social decay|economic chaos]] occurring in Russia. The initial cancellation of ''Spektr'' and ''Priroda'' was the first such sign, followed by the reduction in communications as a result of the fleet of [[tracking ship]]s being withdrawn from service by [[Ukraine]]. The new Ukrainian government also vastly raised the price of the [[Kurs (docking system)|''Kurs'']] docking systems, manufactured in [[Kyiv]]{{spaced ndash}}the Russians' attempts to reduce their dependence on ''Kurs'' would later lead to accidents during TORU tests in 1997. Various Progress spacecraft had parts of their cargoes missing, either because the consumable in question had been unavailable, or because the ground crews at Baikonur had looted them. The problems became particularly obvious during the launch of the [[Mir EO-14|EO-14]] crew aboard [[Soyuz TM-17]] in July; shortly before launch there was a black-out at the pad, and the power supply to the nearby city of [[Baikonur|Leninsk]] failed an hour after launch.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}} Nevertheless, the spacecraft launched on time and arrived at the station two days later. All of ''Mir''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s ports were occupied, and so Soyuz TM-17 had to station-keep 200 metres away from the station for half an hour before docking while [[Progress M-18]] vacated the core module's front port and departed.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}}

The EO-13 crew departed on 22 July, and soon after ''Mir'' passed through the annual [[Perseids|Perseid]] [[meteor shower]], during which the station was hit by several particles. A spacewalk was conducted on 28 September to inspect the station's hull, but no serious damage was reported. [[Soyuz TM-18]] arrived on 10 January 1994 carrying the [[Mir EO-15|EO-15]] crew (including [[Valeri Polyakov]], who was to remain on ''Mir'' for 14 months), and [[Soyuz TM-17]] left on 14 January. The undocking was unusual in that the spacecraft was to pass along ''Kristall'' in order to obtain photographs of the APAS to assist in the training of space shuttle pilots. Due to an error in setting up the control system, the spacecraft struck the station a glancing blow during the manoeuvre, scratching the exterior of ''Kristall''.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}}

On 3 February 1994, ''Mir'' veteran [[Sergei Krikalev]] became the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a US spacecraft, flying on {{OV|103}} during [[STS-60]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-60/mission-sts-60.html|title=STS-60 Mission Summary|date=29 June 2001|publisher=NASA|access-date=10 January 2014|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213447/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-60/mission-sts-60.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The launch of [[Soyuz TM-19]], carrying the [[Mir EO-16|EO-16]] crew, was delayed due to the unavailability of a payload fairing for the booster that was to carry it, but the spacecraft eventually left Earth on 1 July 1994 and docked two days later. They stayed only four months to allow the Soyuz schedule to line up with the planned Space Shuttle manifest, and so Polyakov greeted a second resident crew in October, prior to the undocking of Soyuz TM-19, when the [[Mir EO-17|EO-17]] crew arrived in [[Soyuz TM-20]].<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}}