View of the Russian space station Mir, in orbit over the Cook Strait, off the coast of South Island, New Zealand. Mir was launched February 1986. The space station orginally consisted of a core module and docking facilities. A variety of science modules were then adding, increasing Mir's mass from its original 21 tonnes to over 100 tonnes. This photo was taken from the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which docked with Mir for the 3rd time was part of mission STS-76, from the 22nd to 31st of March 1996.