MIR
The International Space Station (ISS) has been occupied by human beings for an uninterrupted period dating back to November of 2000 but the earlier MIR deserves to be remembered fondly for its pioneering contributions to space exploration.
The construction phase of the Soviet-built MIR space station began in 1986. By 2001 MIR consisted of seven modules and was 30 metres long and 20 metres wide with a total weight of 100 tons; MIR’s orbit was located between 400 km and 500 km from the Earth's surface. During its lifetime, the station was home to 108 astronauts of 31 nationalities; on board thousands of experiments were conducted and numerous records were broken from the longest spacewalk (7 hours), made by Anatoli Soloviev and Aleksander Balandin, to the longest stay in orbit – an astonishing 748 days in three missions for Sergei Avdev.
The idea was to keep MIR in orbit for about five years. In fact, it remained in space until the 12th of February, 2001. In its fifteen year life it acted as a base for numerous scientific experiments and paved the way for the planning of other long-duration missions.
Thanks to OMEGA's longstanding links with space exploration, the brand enjoyed the privileged of having MIR cosmonauts Anatoli Soloviev and Pavel Vinogradov (on January 1998) carry out the final tests of its Speedmaster Professional X-33 multifunction watch. After successful completion of the tests, the watch was officially introduced to the public live from MIR via Space Center Houston.
The watches, which spent three years on board the MIR space station before returning safely to Earth with the last long-term crew to leave the station, now have a place of honour among the other space-related exhibits at the OMEGA Museum, where they serve as an enduring reminder of OMEGA’s strong association with space exploration.
