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Space

How a Soviet space station became a symbol of space cooperation

By Simon Ings

4 September 2019

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MIR wasn’t Jean-Pierre Haigneré’s favourite place. Asked what the ageing Soviet space station he was staying on smelled and sounded like, the French astronaut said: “Mir to me sometimes smells like burnt coffee. The background noise is similar to the engine room of a boat or a noisy aeroplane. The numerous fans aboard the station are the primary source of this nuisance, which averages 67 decibels. I have completely forgotten what silence is like.” On whether he had any privacy, his answer was even more definitive: “No!”

The interview, published in New Scientist‘s 4 September 1999 issue,…

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