Expedition EO-20

Crew & mission data: No.: 1 2 3 Exp.crew:  Gidzenko, Yuri  Avdeyev, Sergei  Reiter, Thomas Job:  CDR  Flight Engineer  Research cosmonaut Launch vehicle:  Soyuz TM-22  Soyuz TM-22  Soyuz TM-22 Docking date/time:  05 Sep 1995 - 10:29:53  05 Sep 1995 - 10:29:53  05 Sep 1995 - 10:29:53 Undocking date/time:  29 Feb 1996 - 07:20:06  29 Feb 1996 - 07:20:06  29 Feb 1996 - 07:20:06 Landing vehicle:  Soyuz TM-22  Soyuz TM-22  Soyuz TM-22 Mir-mission duration:  179d 01h 42m?  179d 01h 42m?  179d 01h 42m? Orbits:  2833?  2833?  2833?

EVA data: EVAs  Date  Time hatch open  Time hatch closed  Duration  Cosmonauts EVA-1  20 Oct 1995  11:50:??  17:06:??  5h 16m  Avdeyev & Reiter EVA-2  08 Dec 1995  19:23:30  19:52:??  0h 29m  Gidzenko & Avdeyev EVA-3  08 Feb 1996  14:03:07  17:08:50  3h 05m 43s  Gidzenko & Reiter

Mission details:

• Mir Expedition EO-20
• docking on MIR spacestation; crew became the 20th MIR resident crew; joint Russian-German research work.
• EVA`s performed by Avdeyev and Reiter (first German performing a spacewalk) at 20.10.1995 (5h 16m), by Gidzenko and Avdeyev on 08.12.1995 (0h 29m); new instruments were installed.
• On Jan 1, 1996 at 0000:00 UTC, the crew of Yuri Gidzenko, Sergei Avdeyev, and Thomas Reiter had been in flight for 119 days 14 hours 59 min 38 sec
• Yuri Gidzenko and Thomas Reiter carried out a 3 hour 2 min(??) spacewalk on Feb 8, 1996 starting around 1307 UTC from the Kvant-2 airlock. The walk was reportedly shorter than planned because the astronauts didn't have powerful enough tools to release a bolt on an antenna they were doing maintenance on. The astronauts recovered some samples which had been exposed to space on the exterior of the Spektr module (the ESEF or European Space Exposure Facility) to study the effects of radiation, vacuum and debris impacts.
• Spaceflight took two month longer than planned due of missing money; longest space flight of a non-Russian to date.
• On Feb 29, 1996 the crew of Gidzenko, Avdeyev and Reiter undocked from Mir in Soyuz TM-22, and at 1042 UTC they landed in Kazakhstan after 179d 1h 42min in space.