Mir Ends 'Triumphant' Mission, Fiji Sees Fireworks 
By Anatoly Vereshchagin

KOROLYOV, Russia (Reuters) - Remnants (残骸）of Russia's Mir space station plunged into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, thundering spectacularly over Fiji with a huge smoke trail after engineers ended the laboratory's ``triumphant'' 15-year mission.

Mission Control outside Moscow said a final signal at 12:07 a.m. EST switched on engines for a 20-minute burst that irrevocably （不能取消地, 不能撤回地）altered the station's trajectory（轨道, 弹道, 轨线）, pitching it into a designated splashdown zone in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.

"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."

South Pacific nations had been on standby in case chunks (大块）hit land instead of water. A fleet of 27 tuna boats （金枪鱼船,捕金枪鱼机动船）fishing in the target zone was not hit by any debris, a spokeswoman for the fleet, Tana McHale, told Reuters from California.

"They didn't even get a decent light show,'' she said.

"Russia Is And Will Remain A Space Power''

At the other side of the globe in Mission Control, there were some long faces as the reality hit home, but also pride in Russia's achievement at keeping Mir aloft (. 在高处, 在上) far longer than planned -- and relieved smiles that everything went to schedule.

"Mir has completed its triumphant mission,'' said an announcer at Mission Control outside Moscow. "It was unprecedented in the history of space research.''

The giant 136-tonstructure -- a collection of cylindrical modules (圆柱体太空舱）sprouting a profusion （丰富，多）of antennae and solar panels -- had been in orbit since 1986. Chunks of the craft burned up on re-entry but over 20 tons of metal splashed into the sea.

"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.

Mir's demise (死亡, 让位, 禅让) capped 15 years of a record-breaking but also accident-prone (. 易出事故的) career. Koptev said the mission had cost $4.2 billion, not least because of running repairs toward the end.

"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.

The final burst tipped the craft on its way to oblivion(遗忘, 湮没, 赦免).

The biggest man-made object to re-enter the atmosphere hurtled (冲击；猛烈碰撞；急动) down at speeds fast enough to smash through six feet of reinforced concrete.

Although confident there would be no mishaps, Moscow took out a $200 million insurance policy just in case.

Mir was originally designed for only three years in space. The station, which was visited by 28 long-term expeditions and 106 cosmonauts, set many space records, but also became increasingly accident-prone in later years.

"There's a feeling of relief. The job has been done well, with no problems,'' Mission Control chief engineer Mikhail Pronin told reporters. ``Now it's time for a drink.''