February 20, 1986 – Mir Launched

On February 20, 1986, the Soviet Union launched the space station Mir. The launch of Mir, which was the world’s biggest space station, took place around three weeks after Challenger, an American space shuttle, met with a disaster. Seven astronauts had died in the disaster. Until October 23, 2010, Mir held the distinction for the longest continuous human presence in space for around 10 years. This magnificent feat of 3,644 days was overtaken in 2010 by ISS. In March 2001, Mir was de-orbited.