"We saw five or six fragments with a huge smoke trail that lasted for 10 to 15 seconds. (It was) followed some time later by a couple of sonic booms,'' said Reuters photographer Mark Baker from Nadi in the South Pacific islands of Fiji.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.''
Australian officials said they believed Mir -- which means both "peace" and "world" in Russian -- ended up in an unpopulated part of the Pacific some 1,800 miles southwest of Britain's Pitcairn Islands.
"It occurred in the exact area that the Russian space agency had predicted, between Australia and Chile," said Emergency Management Australia managing director David Templeman. "I'm relieved."
"Mir proved Russia cannot just build things but can operate them too,'' Russian Space Agency chief Yuri Koptev told reporters. ''Russia is and will remain a space power.''
Senior space official Nikolai Anfimov told reporters Russia had not had the means to pinpoint where Mir's remnants landed.
"We are hoping to get some observers' information and then we can analyze it,'' he said. Such information could come from Fiji and a U.S.-Russian group that flew two planes to the area.
"Given the state of the station we are obliged to do this,'' he said. "One should not see this in purely emotional terms.''
But most Russians questioned by Reuters on the streets of Moscow said they felt the loss deeply.
"I am really sorry. It is a whole epoch that has gone by,'' Nadezhda, 29, a company manager, said. "When they launched it I was at school and now my daughter is seven.''
Russia is now set to concentrate its efforts -- and limited funds that would not stretch to keeping Mir aloft -- on the $95 billion International Space Station (ISS), a joint venture with the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.
Sergei, a 42-year-old economist, said he did not believe in cooperation with Washington on the ISS.
"We are giving up our positions one by one,'' he said. "As for the ISS, we do not have enough money and the Americans can kick us out of there at any time.''
"Time For A Drink''
Mir's recharged guidance systems maneuvered the craft into position before the first and second bursts were fired to slow the giant structure. They forced Mir to reduce its orbit until it could no longer resist the pull of earth's gravity.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.''
Australian officials said they believed Mir -- which means both "peace" and "world" in Russian -- ended up in an unpopulated part of the Pacific some 1,800 miles southwest of Britain's Pitcairn Islands.
"It occurred in the exact area that the Russian space agency had predicted, between Australia and Chile," said Emergency Management Australia managing director David Templeman. "I'm relieved."
"Mir proved Russia cannot just build things but can operate them too,'' Russian Space Agency chief Yuri Koptev told reporters. ''Russia is and will remain a space power.''
Senior space official Nikolai Anfimov told reporters Russia had not had the means to pinpoint where Mir's remnants landed.
"We are hoping to get some observers' information and then we can analyze it,'' he said. Such information could come from Fiji and a U.S.-Russian group that flew two planes to the area.
"Given the state of the station we are obliged to do this,'' he said. "One should not see this in purely emotional terms.''
But most Russians questioned by Reuters on the streets of Moscow said they felt the loss deeply.
"I am really sorry. It is a whole epoch that has gone by,'' Nadezhda, 29, a company manager, said. "When they launched it I was at school and now my daughter is seven.''
Russia is now set to concentrate its efforts -- and limited funds that would not stretch to keeping Mir aloft -- on the $95 billion International Space Station (ISS), a joint venture with the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.
Sergei, a 42-year-old economist, said he did not believe in cooperation with Washington on the ISS.
"We are giving up our positions one by one,'' he said. "As for the ISS, we do not have enough money and the Americans can kick us out of there at any time.''
"Time For A Drink''
Mir's recharged guidance systems maneuvered the craft into position before the first and second bursts were fired to slow the giant structure. They forced Mir to reduce its orbit until it could no longer resist the pull of earth's gravity.
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