1986 The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for 10 of those years.
1988 Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station.
1994 Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
1995 Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (''Atlantis'' docks with the Russian space station ''Mir'' for the first time.)
1997 A small fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
1997 An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
2001 The Russian ''Mir'' space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.