Expedition EO-25

Crew & mission data:

EVA data:

Mission details:

• Mir Expedition EO-25
• Solovyov handed over command of Mir to EO-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, and the Mir EO-24 crew and Eyharts undocked from the forward port of Mir at 05:52 UT on Febr 19, 1998 aboard the Soyuz TM-26 for their return home.
• On February 20, the EO-25 crew and Andy Thomas of the NASA-7 mission boarded Soyuz TM-27 and undocked from the Kvant port at 08:48 UT. They redocked with the forward port on Mir at 09:32 UT. This freed up the Kvant port for a test redocking of the Progress M-37 cargo ship, currently parked in a following orbit with Mir during the crew transfer.
• Progress M-37 redocked with the Kvant module on the Mir complex on Feb 23.
• Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin entered the Kvant-2 module on Mar 3, 1998 and depressurized the inner (PNO) and outer (ShSO) airlock in preparation for a spacewalk. However, they were unable to open the outer hatch, which was repaired by the previous crew. The airlock compartment was eventually repressurized. Depress was probably earlier than 01:30 UTC; repress was around 02:45 UTC.
• Progress M-37 undocked on Mar 15 at 19:16 UTC and was de-orbited at 23:03 UTC over the Pacific.
• Musabaev and Budarin carried out a spacewalk on Apr 1, 1998; the work ran behind schedule and was not completed. The repaired EVA hatch was opened at 13:35 UTC and closed at 20:15 UTC. The astronauts transferred to the Spektr module and installed handrails near the damaged solar panel. Splinting the panel will have to be done on the next spacewalk.
• Mir astronauts Musabaev and Budarin carried out a 4h15m spacewalk on Apr 6 and splinted the dented Spektr solar panel. A problem with the station's attitude control system caused the spacewalk to be cut short. Andy Thomas remained on board the station during the EVA.
• Another spacewalk was carried out on Apr 11. Hatch open was at 0955 UTC and closed at 1620 UTC. The old VDU engine was installed in 1992, attached to the Sofora boom sticking out from the Kvant module. Musabaev and Budarin dismounted it and jettisoned it into space. Two more spacewalks are planned to install the new VDU engine, currently mounted on the exterior of the Progress supply ship.
• Musabaev and Budarin carried out another 6 hour spacewalk on Apr 17, preparing for installation of the new VDU engine. Hatch open was 07:40 UTC and hatch closed at 14:12 UTC. Two truss structures on the Kvant module were retracted and stored on the module exterior; the new VDU was unlatched from its carrier in the Progress cargo ship. It will be installed on the next EVA.
• Musabaev and Budarin, in a spacewalk on Apr 22, attached the new VDU roll control engine to the end of the Sofora boom on the Kvant module.
• Progress M-38 undocked May 15 at 1844 UTC, freeing up the docking port on the Kvant module for the new cargo ship.
• Progress M-39 docked with Mir at 23:51 UTC on May 16, bringing supplies and scientific experiments to the station.
• Discovery STS-91 docked with the SO module on Mir at 17:00 UTC on June 4. Andy Thomas became part of the Discovery crew, Valeriy Ryumin carried out an inspection tour of Mir, and NASA equipment was retrieved from the station.
• Discovery undocked at 1601 UTC on Jun 8, ending NASA participation in the Mir program.
• Talgat Musabaev and Nikolai Budarin are continuing work aboard the Mir complex. Launch of the replacement crew of Padalka and Avdeev has slipped a couple of weeks to mid-August. On Jun 30 Mir was in a 367 x 377 km x 51.6 deg orbit; the orbit will be slowly lowered over the next year prior to Mir's deliberate re-entry.
• Soyuz TM-28 docked at 10:56 UTC on Aug 15 with the rear (Kvant) port of the Mir space station, which was vacated at 09:28UTC on Aug 12 by the Progress M-39 cargo ship.
• The EO-25 crew, Musabayev and Budarin, landed with Baturin on Aug 25, leaving the EO-26 crew of Padalka and Avdeyev on the station. As only one final Soyuz mission to Mir was planned, with two of the seats on that Soyuz pre-sold to Slovak and French experimenters, the return crew of Soyuz TM-28 was subject to constant replanning and revision.

Astrophilately covers:

Cosmic Mail: Cover with 2 black Mir boardcancel, STS-91 undocking date boardcancel: 080698, signed by the crew on board.