The term 'Former Space Station' refers to two space stations that have been decommissioned and are no longer in use. The first is Skylab, a United States space station launched and operated by NASA from 1973 to 1979. The second is Mir, a Soviet/Russian space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Both Skylab and Mir were the first of their kind, and both played an important role in the history of space exploration.