"Mir": The Ballisticians' Special Operation
Twenty years ago, on March 23, 2001, the people of Earth held their breath. Russia's Mission Control Center (MCC) was preparing to conduct a unique, combined special operation in space and on Earth—the deorbiting and sinking of the Mir space station. Why did Mission Control abandon the idea of a soft landing in the Caucasus? Were any attempts made to recover fragments of the station and its expensive onboard equipment from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean? Was there anything left of the Mir orbital complex at all?