The Base Block, or Core Module, is the heart of Mir. First launched into orbit in 1986, it comprised the entire space station for over a year, before the other modules were launched.

The station core module, called Tianhe (that means “harmony of the heavens” and would sound hopelessly new-agey if it wasn’t for the fact it’s a space station) looks, at least in general ...

Mir’s core module launched on February 19, 1986, and over the next decade, Russian rockets – and eventually a couple of American space shuttle flights ...

Earlier today, China put Tianhe, the core module of its new space station, into orbit. It’s the 12th space station to be put into orbit (Salyuts 1 and 3 through 7 , Mir, Skylab, the ISS and the ...

On May 31, 1990, the Soviet Union launched a new module to the Mir space station. The new component was named Kristall, and it was the third addition sent to Mir since the core module launched in ...