MIR: Expedition 28
(EO-28)

Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing 44 km southeast of Arkalyk.

Following a two day solo flight Soyuz TM-30 docked with the MIR space station on April 06, 2000. Sergei Zalyotin and Aleksandr Kaleri became the 28th and final resident crew.

The crew of the mission was sent by MirCorp, a privately funded company, to reactivate and repair the station. The mission was part of an effort by MirCorp to refurbish and privatize the aging MIR space station, which was nearing the end of its operational life. Further commercially funded missions beyond Soyuz TM-30 were originally planned to continue the restoration efforts of the then 14-year-old space station, but insufficient funding and investment ultimately led to the de-orbit of the station in early 2001.

The new freighter Progress M1-2 docked with the space station on April 27, 2000. The equalisation of the pressures between the station and the freighter lasted long this time. Aleksandr Kaleri said that the cargo bay of the Progress M1-2 was only half full. The air-seal was in good order, but there had been some variations in the air pressure, which in his opinion were caused by the differences in temperature. In 30 minutes the pressure decreased by 4 MM mercury, and then the decrease stopped. At last the pressure inside the station was 687 MM. The crew still had to install the clamps between the Progress M1-2 and the Kvant1 docking port. These clamps make it impossible for the freighter to wander away.

The only EVA in this mission was performed by both cosmonauts on May 12, 2000 (4h 52m). The 'germatizator-experiment', the use of a special glue to seal off cracks or damages at the outside surface of the complex, was executed according to plan. The following activity was the inspection of a malfunctioning solar battery on the Kvant1 (Module-E). Problem with this solar battery was that it was impossible to turn the panel into the most effective angle towards the sun. The cosmonauts found out that the steering cable to the rotor of the solar battery was burnt through during a short-circuit. The cosmonauts made images of the cable. The last activity was the so called panorama-inspection, making images of the outside of the complex to enable specialist to analyse the effects of ageing of the material. The new freighter Progress-M1-2 was also inserted in this inspection.