Mir Space Station Fate

Looking, at some of the press, you'd never have thought that the Mir space station ever existed. "Now mankind has a permanent outpost in space," they blurt. All hail the International Space Station (ISS), at least until the budget gets cut. Us cynics remember all too well the one-small-step-for-a-man thing that resulted in the moon being abandoned for over 25 years, and that Mir - still the pride of the Russian people, lies emptily languishing in space for want of funding that is miniscule in comparison to just one space shuttle launch. It looks likely that as of next February, it'll be no more. Unless they change their mind again.

olliver.family.gen.nz...

So what do you guys think? Should they have kept Mir going, or just let, for lack of a better word, die?

[Edited on 4-11-2003 by Pherophile]

They already crashed Mir into the earth. It was old and falling apart and the ISS took its place. I hope they dont get rid of that too, all the money already invested would be wasted. There is still plenty of technology and research that can be done in orbit.

Well theres me not paying attention for you. I revised the question to past tense, sorry about that.

Well, I think they canned Mir because it was no longer cost effective to maintain. Props to the Russians for building it and keeping it up there for so long. It is probably one of the greater achievments of mankind in space.