Skylab was the first American space station, launched in 1973. It was a workshop for scientific experiments and was visited by three crews of astronauts. MIR was the first modular space station, launched by the Soviet Union in 1986. It was visited by many astronauts from different countries and was in operation until 2001. EMIR is an acronym for European Modular Intersatellite Rescue, a project to develop a robotic spacecraft to service and repair satellites in orbit.