MIR: Expedition 19
(EO-19)

Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC).

It was the first docking maneuver between an U.S. and a Russian spacecraft since 20 years. After docking of the Atlantis (STS-71) with the MIR space station on June 29, 1995, the crews visited each other and performed joint research work in the Spacelab and in MIR.

The MIR resident crew was exchanged. Anatoli Soloviyov and Nikolai Budarin became the 19th resident crew. The former 18th resident crew (Vladimir Dezhurov, Gennadi Strekalov, Norman Thagard) returned to Earth with STS-71.

The first EVA was performed by Anatoli Soloviyov and Nikolai Budarin on July 14, 1995 (5h 34m). The cosmonauts repaired the solar array and they inspected the exterior of the space station. They discovered no pollution or damages on the outside of the docking mechanism of the -Z axis. They deployed the jammed solar array on Spektr with the exception of 1 section. The solar array has now been included in the power supply system of the complex. They also worked at a solar array of Module-D and an antenna.

Anatoli Soloviyov and Nikolai Budarin went out of MIR to conduct the second spacewalk on July 19, 1995 (3h 08m). The cosmonauts did not accomplish their tasks and the EVA was shorter than planned. The thermoregulation in the spacesuit of Anatoli Soloviyov was not working normally. He got orders to remain in the hatch of the airlock and observe the activities of his crew mate. Nikolai Budarin did some preparations for the installation of the Belgian MirAS experiment and brought back some materials from MIRs outer surface.

The third and final EVA occurred on July 21, 1995 (5h 50m). The main task of the crew consisted of the installation of the Belgian Spectrometer, MirAS, on the outer surface of the Spektr module. The EVA was a success. During the EVA the geostationary satellite Altair (west) has not been used during all possible windows and if so only for voice communications. The recorded images have been transmitted to Earth after the EVA.

The separation of STS-71 was observed from the also separated Soyuz spacecraft.