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  Did anyone ever find any wreckage from Mir?

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Author Topic:   Did anyone ever find any wreckage from Mir?
Rick Boos
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Posts: 851
From: Celina, Ohio
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 08-24-2005 09:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rick Boos   Click Here to Email Rick Boos     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It's been quite awhile since the demise of the MIR spacestation and I am wondering if anyone has ever found any wreckage from it's given impact location? I would think that most of it that made it to Earth is in the drink, but was just wondering if anyone heard of any pieces being recovered?

tegwilym
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Posts: 2331
From: Sturgeon Bay, WI
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 08-24-2005 01:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for tegwilym   Click Here to Email tegwilym     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I remember seeing a lot of "debris" on Ebay the day it finally fell. It looked like a wad of duct tape and bent metal coat hangers!

...of course that auction was quickly pulled off.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-24-2005 01:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
There was a New York Times article published a month or so after the reentry about someone having recovered floating debris off the coast of Fiji.

From the description and photograph provided in the newspaper, I wasn't impressed or convinced that what he found came from the station. But who knows, anything is possible...

Hawkman
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Posts: 400
From: Union, New Jersey
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 08-24-2005 08:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hawkman   Click Here to Email Hawkman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by tegwilym:
I remember seeing a lot of "debris" on Ebay the day it finally fell. It looked like a wad of duct tape and bent metal coat hangers!
There was another eBay auction that was nothing more than a bolt that they guy found in his driveway. He said that it wasn't there when he left earlier in the day and that it must be from Mir.

Certainly a pedigree without question.

collshubby
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Posts: 591
From: Madisonville, Louisiana
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-25-2005 08:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for collshubby   Click Here to Email collshubby     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I remember an article or two in Australian papers about debris washing up on some islands in the Pacific. It all seemed speculative, never saw any follow-up, so I don't put too much stock in it. It may even be the Fiji debris discussed above.

At the time, I was working in the NSW state government, and our director was a honcho in the State Emergency Services. For about three days prior to and on the day of Mir's re-entry, he received updates by fax of projected paths, etc. Knowing I was interested in space, he always passed a copy of this stuff to me to look at. Anyway, there was real concern of it possibly coming in over Australia, and there were preperations being made in case debris landed in populated areas.

MrSpace86
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Posts: 1618
From: Gardner, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2003

posted 08-29-2005 09:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MrSpace86   Click Here to Email MrSpace86     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Another piece of space history left for only in the books....

jeffbassett
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Posts: 109
From: Toledo
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 09-17-2005 02:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jeffbassett   Click Here to Email jeffbassett     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Any fallen debris must be returned to Russia for examination by international law before it can be claimed technically. I don't know if Russia would push for any recovered material should such be announced found.

There is a coin from the shuttle missions that has parts of the shuttle and Mir melted into the coin. Its the only official pieces of Mir I have seen for sale off hand.

SpaceAholic
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Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 09-17-2005 03:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by jeffbassett:
Any fallen debris must be returned to Russia for examination by international law before it can be claimed technically.
What precedent/statute of internal law mandates the return of material intentionally deorbited into the sea - because its abandoned, why would it not be classified as salvage?

Philip
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Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 09-17-2005 05:54 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, I guess some of us have some items which flew onboard MIR but pieces of the station itself?

Would the place where these were found (International or Territorial waters) imply some limitations (return to that country or whatever?)

I once noticed MIR windows and blankets being sold at a website but these were unflown spare parts.

Rick Boos
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Posts: 851
From: Celina, Ohio
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 09-23-2005 07:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rick Boos   Click Here to Email Rick Boos     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The one to ask would be Curt Newport as he ran into the same situation with NASA with Liberty Bell 7. Look at all the neat items on the floor of the ocean right off the Cape. NASA has no interest in it, but try to salvage it.

SpaceAholic
Member

Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 09-23-2005 07:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Rick, I view these as dissimilar events; LB7 was inadvertently lost and beyond the reach (at the time) of commercial salvage technology. Mir on the other hand was sent to its fiery demise with the clear understanding (and intent) that it be destroyed during reentry in a location chosen specifically for its remoteness to preclude impact in human habitual areas. I don't think the Russians have a claim...

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 09-23-2005 09:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The UN Outer Space Treaty specfically outlines that an item launched into space by a country party to the treaty is their property until they say its not:
Article VIII

A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body. Ownership of objects launched into outer space, including objects landed or constructed on a celestial body, and of their component parts, is not affected by their presence in outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth. Such objects or component parts found beyond the limits of the State Party to the Treaty on whose registry they are carried shall be returned to that State Party, which shall, upon request, furnish identifying data prior to their return.

You can read the full text of the treaty here. Russia is among the 98 UN States that have ratified this treaty.

Tykeanaut
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Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 06-05-2011 08:14 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
As a matter of interest, were any pieces of the MIR space station ever recovered? I believe it re-entered over the Pacific, so I guess the answer is a no?

Editor's note: Threads merged.

wikicollecting
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posted 06-13-2011 11:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for wikicollecting   Click Here to Email wikicollecting     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Fascinating stuff.

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