The Soviets have opened a new phase in space exploration with the launch of the world’s biggest space station, Mir.
The successful launch of Mir comes just over three weeks after the American space shuttle Challenger disaster, in which seven astronauts died.
At next week’s Communist Party congress in Moscow the Mir project is likely to be hailed as proof that the Soviets are leading the peaceful exploration of space.
Mir, which means both peace and world in Russian, is intended to provide a base for a permanently manned complex orbiting the Earth.
