MIR: Expedition 4
(EO-4)

Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing 140 km northeast Dzhezkasgan.

The original launch date of November 21, 1988 was moved back to permit French president François Mitterrand to attend the launch.

Following a two day solo flight Soyuz TM-7 docked with the MIR-Kvant complex on November 28, 1988.

Scientific work with third resident crew was done. Aleksandr Volkov and Sergei Krikalyov together with Valeri Polyakov became the fourth resident crew. An EVA by Aleksandr Volkov and Jean-Loup Chrétien on December 09, 1988 (5h 57m) was performed. The cosmonauts depressurized the multiport docking adapter and clambered outside MIR. Jean-Loup Chrétien was first out. He installed handrails, then attached the 15.5 kg (34 lb) Échantillons experiment rack to the handrails by springs and hooks. He also attached electrical wires leading from the rack to MIR’s power supply. Échantillons carried five technological experiments with applications to the Hermes shuttle program. Aleksandr Volkov and Jean-Loup Chrétien then assembled the 240 kg (530 lb) ERA experiment. They attached a mount to handrails on the frustum linking the multiport docking unit to the small-diameter portion of the work compartment. After resolving problems with cables linking ERA to a control panel inside MIR, they attached the folded ERA structure to a support arm on the platform. The structure was designed to unfold to form a flat six-sided structure 1 metre deep by 3.8 metres across. From inside MIR, Sergei Krikalyov commanded the structure to unfold, but to no avail. Volkov then kicked ERA, causing it to unfold properly. According to Sergei Krikalyov, taking the ERA outside helped relieve the crowding problems. Jean-Loup Chrétien became the first non-American and non-Soviet cosmonaut to perform a spacewalk.

During this mission experiments in 16 different fields were performed as topografic and spectrografic research of the Earth surface, biological and medical research (incl. blood and heart tests).