Deorbit of Mir
 An animation showing the deorbiting process.
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A video showing Mir debris reentering the atmosphere over Fiji.
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The deorbit of Mir was the controlled atmospheric re-entry of the modular Russian space station Mir carried out on 23 March 2001. Major components ranged from about 5 to 15 years in age, and included the Mir Core Module, Kvant-1, Kvant-2, Kristall, Spektr, Priroda, and Docking Module. Although Russia was optimistic about Mir's future, the country's commitments to the International Space Station project left no funding to support Mir.
The deorbit was carried out in three stages. The first stage was waiting for atmospheric drag to decay the orbit an average of 220 kilometers (137 mi). This began with the docking of Progress M1-5. The second stage was the transfer of the station into a 165 × 220 km (103 × 137 mi) orbit. This was achieved with two burns of the Progress M1-5's control engines at 00:32 UTC and 02:01 UTC on 23 March 2001. After a two-orbit pause, the third and final stage of Mir's deorbit began with the firing of Progress M1-5's control engines and main engine at 05:08 UTC, lasting a little over 22 minutes. The atmospheric re-entry at the altitude of 100 kilometres (62 mi) occurred at 05:44 UTC near Nadi, Fiji.
After the construction of the International Space Station began in 1998, Russian resources were split between the two stations. In 2000, Rosaviakosmos signed an agreement with MirCorp to lease the station for commercial use, with the Soyuz TM-30 mission, intended to prepare the station for future use and conduct some commercial research, being flown later that year. This was to have been followed by more missions, including flights with space tourists. Due to the Russian government being concerned about MirCorp's ability to fund these missions, Rosaviakosmos decided against funding the continued operation of Mir.
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