The Soviet Space Station, MIR, was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. It was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996. It was the largest artificial satellite in orbit for fifteen years until it was surpassed by the International Space Station in 2000. MIR was the first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space, and held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at 3, 644 days.