On May 12, 2000, two Russian cosmonauts embarked on the 80th and final spacewalk at the Mir space station.
This was also the first commercially financed spacewalk. A private company called Mircorp paid to launch two cosmonauts, Sergei Zalyotin and Alexander Kalery, on the so-called "MirCorp Mission." The goal was to reactivate and repair the station after it had been deserted for eight months. MirCorp decided to lease Mir from the government so they could use it for space tourism. The two cosmonauts spent about 5 hours repairing damages and conducting tests outside the station. They also inspected the station's external hardware to look for signs of wear and tear. This was all done in preparation for commercial crew missions that never happened, because Russia deorbited the Mir space station the following year.
This was also the first commercially financed spacewalk. A private company called Mircorp paid to launch two cosmonauts, Sergei Zalyotin and Alexander Kalery, on the so-called "MirCorp Mission." The goal was to reactivate and repair the station after it had been deserted for eight months. MirCorp decided to lease Mir from the government so they could use it for space tourism. The two cosmonauts spent about 5 hours repairing damages and conducting tests outside the station. They also inspected the station's external hardware to look for signs of wear and tear. This was all done in preparation for commercial crew missions that never happened, because Russia deorbited the Mir space station the following year.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space. On May 12, 2000, two Russian cosmonauts embarked on the 80th and final space
00:07block at the Mir space station. This was also the first commercially financed space block.
00:12A private company called Mirkor paid to launch two cosmonauts, Sergei Zalyotin and Alexander
00:18Kiliri, on the so-called Mirkor mission. The goal was to reactivate and repair the station
00:22after it had been deserted for eight months. Mirkor decided to lease Mir from the Russian
00:27government so they could use it for space tourism. The two cosmonauts spent about five
00:32hours repairing damages and conducting tests outside the space station. They also inspected
00:36the station's external hardware to look for signs of wear and tear. This was all done
00:40in preparation for the commercial crew missions that never happened because Russia deorbited
00:44the Mir space station the following year. And that's what happened on this day in space.