Up to 30 tonnes of burning debris streaked across the sky above the South Pacific island of Fiji in a brilliant fireworks display before splashing into the ocean half-way between New Zealand and Chile.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a yellowish hail of dots falling out of the sky like something from a science fiction movie.

"We have completed a glorious endeavour and we have done so with dignity. The radars of our US colleagues confirmed that the descent followed its planned trajectory," Russian Space Agency chief Yury Koptev said after mission controllers signalled a final rocket burst to end Mir's life in space.

"We thank our experts for carrying out the operation flawlessly. This is further proof that Russia was and remains a superpower in space," he added.

Braving the risk of hurtling debris travelling at a speed of up to 300 metres (1,000 feet) per second, a fleet of 27 mainly American tuna trawlers operating in the destruction target zone survived undamaged.

Some of the fishermen posted messages on a Californian website.

"Missed us here ...," one named Dave reported.

"All the prayers must have worked. Pretty foggy here. Could just see a couple stars breaking through off and on. Better luck next time."

States near the bulls-eye -- Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia -- also breathed a sigh of relief as Mir plunged on target in an uninhabited zone 200 kilometers (120 miles) wide and 6,000 kilometers (3,750 miles) long.

Ground control dealt the fatal blow to Mir when a Progress supply ship, docked with the 137-tonne orbiter since January, fired the last of three powerful engine boosters, sending the doomed orbiter hurtling to Earth.

Most of the vast structure, an unwieldy mass of heavy metal modules and solar panels, burnt up as it entered the Earth's atmosphere.

But an estimated 1,500 chunks weighing a total of 20-30 tonnes, some as big as a car, continued their fiery descent towards the Pacific Ocean.

Footage broadcast on Russian television of the final minutes before debris plunged into the water showed five or six large fragments clearly visible to the eye plummeting across the sky.

At 0559 GMT, Mir ceased to exist, space chiefs at Russia's flight control centre, outside Moscow, declared solemnly.

In the mission control room, crowded with dozens of bleary-eyed programmers hunched nervously over computer screens, there was mournful silence at news of Mir's demise.

As the tension eased after a roller-coaster night, some broke into tears at the destruction of Mir, a symbol of the Soviet Union's pioneering role in space over five decades of fierce competition with the United States.

One of the astronauts who spent months in Mir's cramped surroundings high above the Earth, Alexander Lazutkin, said with a sigh: "We will get together and have a brandy. The memories of Mir will long remain deep in our souls."

Mission control chief Vladimir Solovyov, a member of the first crew that flew to the vessel on March 13, 1986, three weeks after Mir was fired into orbit, symbolically began the final countdown.

While Russia always insisted that bits of Mir would not crash into populated areas, it nevertheless took out 200 million dollars' insurance in case any of the debris happened to go astray.

Governments across the world expressed concern, noting the catalogue of technical faults on board Mir in recent months, with a sequence of computer breakdowns and a few accidents.

Five international flights due to pass over Mir's target area in the Pacific at the critical time were delayed.

In Japan, the government issued warnings to the public to stay indoors during a 40-minute timeframe of danger to avoid the remote chance of being hit by debris from Mir.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said he was pleased that "the destruction of the orbital station took place according to plan and within the timetable laid down by the government."

But there was anger at the death of the pioneering space station, launched on February 20, 1986 with an original lifespan of three years.

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov branded the dumping of Mir as "the biggest tragedy" during President Vladimir Putin's 15 months in office, accusing space chief Yury Koptev of "defending US interests."

Three deputies, including two former astronauts, tabled a parliamentary motion demanding that the government build a "Mir 2" with funds earmarked for the 16-nation International Space Station (ISS).

At a cost of 250 million dollars per year, the Mir station became an expensive luxury for cash-strapped Russia, which decided to focus resources on the ISS. But critics say the US will not treat Russia as an equal.

Koptev noted that financial problems were not the only reason for ditching Mir, which had outlived its usefulness and was now sorely in need of repair.

"Even if we had money for Mir, leaving the station up there would have been impossible. The last half year all we were doing up there was repairing Mir. I'm very sorry for Mir, but everything has a beginning and an end," he added.

The history of the Mir station began in 1981 when the Soviet Union decided to replace the uncomfortable space capsules which had previously been sent up, giving the cosmonauts the chance to carry out more scientific experiments over a longer period of time.

The first section of the orbiting space station was launched five years later.

Over subsequent years successive modules were attached to the original hull, which became the ultimate space meccano set, 45 metres (yards) long and weighing 137 tonnes. It circled the planet almost 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the earth.

A total of 28 long-term missions, conducted by 106 astronauts, carried out nearly 17,000 scientific experiments aboard Mir, providing new insights into the origins of the universe, physics and technology.

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