Why not just launch it into the sun? Fuel considerations? Gravity from inner planets?
yamo,
As a side note, doing a search of recent threads with the keywords of mir and orbit, you would have noticed this same question’s been asked a couple times in the last 5 days.
Your guess on Fuel considerations is the closest. Getting Mir to break fre of Earth’s orbit would have required a lot more fuel & power than the attached rocked had.
And to add my own speculation, I would be surprised if Mir could have withstood the stresses that putting that great an acceleration on it would have imposed.
-Doug
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=64514 contains a discussion on the subject.
This thread is closed.