MirCorp

MirCorp was a commercial space company created in 1999 that set out to preserve and commercialize the aging Russian space station Mir, sixty percent owned by the Russian manufacturer RSC Energia with the remaining forty percent held by outside investors. In February 2000 MirCorp signed the first commercial lease agreement for an orbiting crewed space station, and in April 2000 it funded the first privately financed crewed expedition to a space station, a two person crew that returned in June 2000 after roughly two months aboard Mir. Funding difficulties and the deteriorating condition of the station led the Russian government to deorbit Mir in 2001, ending the venture before its larger commercial ambitions could be realized.