Mr. Speaker, today Mir came back to earth in a fiery splash in the South Pacific. Space station Mir's planned lifespan was five years. It stayed in space three times as long, more than 15 years, circling the earth more than 80,000 times.
Mir welcomed aboard more than 100 people from 11 different countries. Some stayed a few days, others for months, and cosmonaut Sergei Kirkaliev for more than two years.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield visited Mir in the mid-nineties. Fittingly, he will be visiting Mir's successor, International Space Station Alpha, in April when Canadarm II is installed.
Some say this is a sad day for space exploration. I disagree. It is a day of achievement, a day to acknowledge Russian know-how, and a day to remember as humanity pursues its quest of the high frontier.