The National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (mNACTEC) has inaugurated the long-term exhibition “Holding a MIRror up to space. Cinema and astronautics”, presenting the history and missions of the Mir space station during its 15-year life, against the backdrop of the space race during the Cold War. The exhibition also aims to reflect on the exchanges between science and science-fiction, showing the contributions of space technology to modern life and presenting current and future space missions.
A life-size model of the first Mir, created by the MEDIAPRO Group for the filming of Sergio & Serguéi and loaned to the mNACTEC, allows visitors to discover the inside of the station and experience first-hand what life was like inside the Mir space station.
In 1986, the Mir station began to orbit the earth. It was operated by the Soviet Union and later Russia and was the first inhabitable space station and a test laboratory for scientific experiments and astronomical observations. It also broke records for human permanence in space in the 15 years it remained in orbit.
Taking inspiration from one of the thousands of stories around this space station, the film Sergio & Serguéi (Ernesto Daranas, 2018) is set in the space station in 1991, during the collapse of the Soviet Union, and tells the story of the relationship between Russian astronaut Sergei Asimov and a Cuban professor and radio amateur who is observing the collapse of the Communist bloc in dismay.
11 December 2019
