MIR: Expedition 3
(EO-3)

Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing with Soyuz TM-6 spacecraft 80 km northeast of Arkalyk.

Following a two day solo flight Soyuz TM-4 docked with the MIR on December 23, 1987. Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov became the third resident crew of MIR.

After the departure of cosmonaut Anatoli Levchenko with the Soyuz TM-3 spacecraft Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov performed three EVAs.

The first spacewalk was conducted on February 26, 1988 (4h 25m) by Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov. The cosmonauts removed one portion of the array Yuri Romanenko and Aleksandre Laveykin had assembled in June 1987. They replaced it with an eight-part array set which increased electricity output by 20% and also tested new solar cell materials and allowed telemetric monitoring of output. They also found time to wipe several of MIRs portholes, which had accumulated a dusty coating, and extensively photographed MIRs exterior.

Both cosmonauts went out the space station again on June 30, 1988 (5h 10m) for an unrehearsed EVA to replace Kvants TTM shadow mask X-ray telescope. They cut through 20 layers of thermal blanket to reach the Roentgen suite of instruments. The EVA ended unsuccessfully when a wrench needed to remove a clamp snapped.

The third and final EVA was performed on October 20, 1988 (4h 12m) again by Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov. Using tools delivered by Progress 38, Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov removed the old TTM shadow mask X-ray unit and successfully replaced it. They then installed equipment in anticipation of the upcoming Franco-Soviet EVA.

In the first week of the mission they performed biological experiments (with onions and fishes for example) and installed the Aynur biological crystal growth apparatus, which they had delivered to the station, into Kvant1. Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov conducted part of an ongoing survey of galaxies and star groups in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum using the Glazar telescope on Kvant. The survey required photography with exposure times up to 8 min.

Other work included Earth observation and experiments on the fields of materials sciences, meteorology, space technology, physiology, psychology, medical sciences and astronomical research, using the Marija reasearch apparatus.

With the arrival of the Soyuz TM-6 crew Valeri Polyakov became an additional resident crew member. He was a medical doctor and in the following time medical experiments were more intensive.

All in all the crew performed more than 2000 experiments.