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Amateur Radio Aboard Mir

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As the crown jewel of the space program of the former Soviet Union, Mir station floated in orbit above Earth for fifteen years from 1986 to 2001. The station's work ended in March 2001 in a fiery descent as the Russians commanded the old station to a lower orbit. Most of the 130-ton outpost burned up over the South Pacific between Australia and Chile, although as much as 30 tons may have survived re-entry through Earth's atmosphere to splash into the ocean.   Remembering Mir »

Amateur radio operators among the cosmonauts and astronauts who lived and worked aboard the space station Mir had a ham radio station that they used during recreational hours for communication with amateurs on the ground around the world and for educational amateur radio projects. They communicated via voice, data using packet radio, and amateur television.

Cosmonauts on ham TV from Mir in 1999 (received by IK1SLD)

HOW TO GET A HAM LICENSE WITH YOUR OWN CALLSIGN

In March 2001, Mir reached the end of its useful life and was dropped into Earth's atmosphere where it burned. Before the end, the space station had been composed of six modules – the original Mir core plus the added-on Kavant-1, Kavant-2, Kristall, Spektr and Priroda modules.

Cosmonauts lived mainly in the Mir core module and worked in the other modules. The ham shack transmitters and receivers were in the Priroda module. Antennas were outside and had to replaced from time to time after they would become cracked from exposure to space radiation. The Mir aerial was a dual band antenna operating in the amateur radio 2-meter and 70-cm bands.

Groups working on the ham radio operations aboard Mir were referred to as SAFEX (Space Amateur Funk EXperiment), MIREX (Mir International Amateur Radio EXperiment) and MAREX (Manned Amateur Radio Experiment) after the space shuttle SAREX ham radio system.

The American astronauts aboard Mir and their amateur radio callsigns were Norm Thagard, RØMIR; Shannon Lucid, RØMIR; John Blaha, KC5TZQ; Jerry Linenger, KC5HBR; Mike Foale, KB5UAC; Dave Wolf, KC5VPF; and Andy Thomas, KD5CHF.     MORE ASTRONAUT HAMS >>

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HOW TO GET A HAM LICENSE WITH YOUR OWN CALLSIGN

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