Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. In the January 1986 issue of Popular Science, writer Jim Schefter wondered if Voyager 2 could solve the mysteries of Uranus. Image: Popular Science ArchiveThe same year, the Soviet Union began in-orbit construction of a modular space station called Mir (after the Russian word for “world,” which can also mean “community”). Image: Popular Science Archives3. IBM’s “briefcase computer” seen in the July 1986 issue of Popular Science.