Editing Mir (section)

===Visiting spacecraft===
{{Main|Soyuz (spacecraft)|Progress (spacecraft)|Space Shuttle}}
{{See also|List of human spaceflights to Mir|List of uncrewed spaceflights to Mir}}
[[File:Soyuz acoplada MIR.jpg|thumb|right|[[Soyuz TM-24]] docked with ''Mir'' as seen from the {{OV|104}} during [[STS-79]]]]
''Mir'' was primarily supported by the Russian [[Soyuz spacecraft|Soyuz]] and [[Progress spacecraft]] and had two ports available for docking them. Initially, the fore and aft ports of the core module could be used for dockings, but following the permanent berthing of ''Kvant''-1 to the aft port in 1987, the rear port of the new module took on this role from the core module's aft port. Each port was equipped with the plumbing required for Progress cargo ferries to replace the station's fluids and also the guidance systems needed to guide the spacecraft for docking. Two such systems were used on ''Mir''; the rear ports of both the core module and ''Kvant''-1 were equipped with both the [[Igla (spacecraft docking system)|Igla]] and [[Kurs (docking system)|Kurs]] systems, whilst the core module's forward port featured only the newer Kurs.<ref name="SSSM"/>

Soyuz spacecraft provided personnel access to and from the station allowing for crew rotations and cargo return, and also functioned as a lifeboat for the station, allowing for a relatively quick return to Earth in the event of an emergency.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}}<ref name="Shuttle-Mir-Soyuz">{{cite web|title=Shuttle–Mir History/Spacecraft/Mir Space Station/Soyuz|publisher=NASA|date=4 March 2004|author=Kim Dismukes|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/s-mir-soyuz.htm|access-date=11 February 2010|archive-date=15 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215015225/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/s-mir-soyuz.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Two models of Soyuz flew to ''Mir''; [[Soyuz T-15]] was the only Igla-equipped [[Soyuz-T]] to visit the station, whilst all other flights used the newer, Kurs-equipped [[Soyuz-TM]]. A total of 31 (30 crewed, [[Soyuz TM-1|1 uncrewed]]) Soyuz spacecraft flew to the station over a fourteen-year period.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}}

The uncrewed Progress cargo vehicles were only used to resupply the station, carrying a variety of cargoes including water, fuel, food and experimental equipment. The spacecraft were not equipped with reentry shielding and so, unlike their Soyuz counterparts, were incapable of surviving reentry.<ref name="Shuttle-Mir-Progress">{{cite web|title=Shuttle–Mir History/Spacecraft/Mir Space Station/Progress Detailed Description|publisher=NASA|date=4 March 2004|author=Kim Dismukes|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/s-mir-detailed-main.htm|access-date=11 February 2010|archive-date=2 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902030958/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/s-mir-detailed-main.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> As a result, when its cargo had been unloaded, each Progress was refilled with rubbish, spent equipment and other waste which was destroyed, along with the Progress itself, on reentry.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/>{{page needed|date=February 2021}} In order to facilitate cargo return, ten Progress flights carried [[VBK-Raduga|''Raduga'']] capsules, which could return around 150&nbsp;kg of experimental results to Earth automatically.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/> ''Mir'' was visited by three separate models of Progress; the original [[Progress 7K-TG|7K-TG]] variant equipped with Igla (18 flights), the [[Progress-M]] model equipped with Kurs (43 flights), and the modified [[Progress-M1]] version (3 flights), which together flew a total of 64 resupply missions.<ref name="SoyuzUS"/> Whilst the Progress spacecraft usually docked automatically without incident, the station was equipped with a remote manual docking system, [[TORU]], in case problems were encountered during the automatic approaches. With TORU, cosmonauts could guide the spacecraft safely in to dock (with the exception of the catastrophic docking of [[Progress M-34]], when the long-range use of the system resulted in the spacecraft striking the station, damaging ''Spektr'' and causing [[Uncontrolled decompression|decompression]]).<ref name="SSSM"/>{{rp|265}}

In addition to the routine Soyuz and Progress flights, it was anticipated that ''Mir'' would also be the destination for flights by the Soviet [[Buran programme|''Buran'' space shuttle]], which was intended to deliver extra modules (based on the same "37K" [[Satellite bus|bus]] as ''Kvant''-1) and provide a much improved cargo return service to the station. ''[[Kristall]]'' carried two [[Androgynous Peripheral Attach System]] (APAS-89) docking ports designed to be compatible with the shuttle. One port was to be used for ''Buran''; the other for the planned ''Pulsar'' X-2 telescope, also to be delivered by ''Buran''.<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="russianspaceweb.com Kristall"/> The cancellation of the ''Buran'' programme meant these capabilities were not realised until the 1990s when the ports were used instead by US [[Space Shuttle]]s as part of the Shuttle-''Mir'' programme (after testing by the specially modified [[Soyuz TM-16]] in 1993). Initially, visiting [[Space Shuttle orbiter]]s docked directly to ''Kristall'', but this required the relocation of the module to ensure sufficient distance between the shuttle and ''Mir''{{'}}s solar arrays.<ref name="SSSM"/> To eliminate the need to move the module and retract solar arrays for clearance issues, a [[Mir Docking Module]] was later added to the end of ''Kristall''.<ref name="Encyclopedia Astronautica mirodule">{{cite web|title=Mir Docking Module|author=Mark Wade|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/mirodule.htm|access-date=11 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100108043835/http://astronautix.com/craft/mirodule.htm|archive-date=8 January 2010}}</ref> The shuttles provided crew rotation of the American astronauts on station and carried cargo to and from the station, performing some of the largest transfers of cargo of the time. With a space shuttle docked to ''Mir'', the temporary enlargements of living and working areas amounted to a complex that was the largest [[spacecraft]] in history at that time, with a combined mass of {{convert|250|t|short ton|lk=on}}.<ref name="SSSM"/>