In Russian, the word "mir" can mean peace, world, or even village. The name was chosen to present the Soviet space station as an international scientific community.

Polyakov spent a record 437 continuous days aboard Mir between 1994 and 1995. This mission helped prove the human body could physically endure a lengthy transit to Mars.

Unlike earlier monolithic outposts, Mir was the first continuously inhabited modular space station. It took a decade to assemble its seven main modules in orbit.

In 2001, the aging station was deliberately deorbited into the spacecraft cemetery at Point Nemo, an isolated area in the South Pacific Ocean far from human population.