It is the end of an era - and it's been a roller-coaster ride.

Russian astronaut Alexander Serebryov: "A hard job because the Mir complex is so big"

When Viktor Afanasiev, Sergei Avdiev and Frenchman Jean-Pierre Haignere decouple from the Mir space station, they'll be closing the door on 14 years of scientific experimentation in space.

As age caught up with Mir, its crews endured a succession of accidents - an onboard fire, a collision with a cargo ship, computer crashes, electricity failures and noxious fumes.

Alexander Serebryov is a veteran of two flights - a total of almost one year in space - and still suffers from a wheeze brought on by an overdose of oxygen in the craft's air supply.

French and Russian flight controllers working together

"It is a very hard job because the complex is so big," he said. "There are a lot of instruments and installations and different devices that it's necessary to check constantly."

But the station has also been a technological triumph - its gravity-free environment a unique laboratory and testing ground for man's endurance in space.

"The experience that the Russians have been gathering over these years - and also their European partners who have worked on the station - has been an essential part in ensuring that the International Space Station (ISS) will be as successful as Mir itself," said Christian Feichtinger of the European Space Agency.

Mir's days are numbered

The pioneering techniques developed during Mir's lifetime will now be put to use on the ISS - due to receive its first crew early next year.

On board will be two Russians and an American.

As for Mir, a running cost of $250 million a year has made it a luxury that Russia can no longer afford.

From now on, Moscow is going to share in the cost of the international station.

"If you have an old car, you still like it very much - but a new car is sometimes better," said Sergei Shayevich of the International Space Agency.

"I think that we have a good opportunity to continue researching in space in the new station - it will be the same for us."

So Mir is set to join an illustrious hall of fame - one that numbers among its founding figures Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.

Since Gagarin's days, of course, the world has moved on.

Yuri Gagarin: Pioneering spirit

Then, space exploration was in the front line of the Cold War battle of ideologies.

Mir was born of the Soviet desire to leap ahead of the United States.

Today, manned space travel is about international co-operation, not national and ideological rivalry.

And our horizons are expanding: 40 years ago, man had yet to reach the Moon.