Russia-France 2001 Official cover "Destruction of the MIR space station, Tsiolkovsky" (MIR01-D)

Destruction of MIR: The Official Seal of the Final Hours of the "MIR" Space Station, March 23, 2001

"The station must die beautifully, just as it was created more than fifteen years ago." These were the words Yuri Koptev, Director General of the Russian Space Agency, used to address journalists gathered at the TSOUP (Korolev Space Control Center) north of Moscow.

It was at 6:59 a.m. (French time) on Friday, March 23, 2001, that the Russian orbital station completed its epic journey in the waters of the Pacific. The deorbiting of MIR was perfectly mastered by the Russians, who witnessed the disappearance of the last symbol of their space power.

A few numbered astrophilatelic russian covers, postmarked at Korolev (Russia) and bearing the two extremely rare official "destruction of MIR" postmarks, produced at the last minute by the TSOUP, bear witness to this historic event. Stamps from the former USSR were also specially overprinted with the images of "Yuri Gagarin, First Soviet Man in Space" and "MIR Records."

Our friend Sasha Pesliak, a leading Russian space reporter, obtained a special dispensation from the TSOUP, which was necessary to obtain official postmarks on only 338 astrophilatelic covers produced for the deorbiting of MIR!