Ex-Cosmonauts, Thrill-Seekers Recount Mir’s Fiery Descent

With a mixture of sadness and pride, former cosmonauts and Russian space officials returned here today after setting off to chase after the Mir space station as it plunged into the South Pacific.

Mir’s design engineer, Leonid Gorshkov, a passenger on one of two small turboprop planes that pursued the Mir, wiped tears from his eyes and said nothing hours after pieces of the 15-year-old station splashed into the ocean between New Zealand and Chile on Friday (Thursday night Pacific time).

Former cosmonaut Vladimir Titov said he saw one piece of wreckage streaking through clouds but did not see it hit the surface. The 135-ton Mir disintegrated into fiery scraps of metal that rained down into a remote stretch of ocean.

“I’m saddened by it, but I’m happy the station landed in a [safe] place, and not on the ground of some countries or something else,” he said.

The former cosmonauts were among 35 people who set off in the planes early Friday in hopes of a close encounter with Mir.

Passengers of the second plane said they had a better view.

Expedition leader Ron Citron of Los Angeles said three teenage boys, including his two sons, filmed several pieces of Mir streaking through the sky.

“We got the footage of the Mir coming down. We saw 12 pieces of it coming down, exploding and coming down in different pieces,” Josh Citron said after his group returned to Nadi airport.