The major objectives of the Mir 18 mission were to conduct joint U.S.-Russian medical research and weightlessness effects investigations and to reconfigure the station for the arrival of the Spektr science module and the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

[2] Progress M-26 separated from the complex on 15 March and made a destructive reentry into the Earth's atmosphere to clear the Kvant docking port for the new Soyuz.

Later, in a televised communication with ground controllers, Thagard said he hoped his visit to Mir would be the start of long-term space cooperation between the two nations.

[2] The Mir 18 crew settled into their daily routine, collecting body fluid samples for the seven metabolic experiments to be performed during their mission.

They also took air and water samples for four hygiene, sanitation and radiation experiments which would determine the role of the Mir environment in human health, safety and efficiency.

Each crewman spent time in a Chibis suit for measurement of cardiovascular system responses to lower body negative pressure.

The Chibis suit sealed at the waist and incrementally induced a partial vacuum, or negative pressure, which drew body fluids back to the lower extremities.

Dezhurov and Strekalov also changed out a condenser in the air conditioning system, part of a long-term maintenance program to prolong the life of the station.

[2] On the 34th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight in a Vostock capsule, the Mir crew had a light schedule for Cosmonautics Day, a Russian national holiday.

[2] On 13 April, the crew began unloading the Progress cargo of food, water, fuel, repair materials for life support systems and equipment for medical and environmental research.

The crew continued routine experiment work, defrosted the ESA freezer, replaced a humidity control fan with one from Progress M-27, installed a battery unit in the Kristall module and began removing an unused shower in the Kvant module to make room for a new set of gyrodynes to support the upcoming Atlantis docking.

[2] In their second space walk, on 17 May, the cosmonauts successfully folded the solar array panels, assisted by Thagard, who controlled servomotor switches from inside Kristall.

The work took so much time that, having already almost used the oxygen available through their suits, they were forced to secure the array to Kvant with tool teathers and postpone electrical connection.

[2] On their 22 May walk of 5 hours and 15 minutes, Dezhurov and Strekalov successfully connected the solar array to Kvant, and Thagard commanded its redeployment from inside the station.

[2] After the redocking, the crew began checking out and activating the new module's systems and transferring new supplies of food, fueled and equipment from Spektr to other parts of the complex.

TsUP controllers, aided by videos transmitted to them by the crew, began plans for a sixth EVA so that the cosmonauts could release the stuck array.

[2] Before its last scheduled move of the Mir 18 mission, the cosmonauts had to install two new batteries in Kristall to boost its power supply enough to accomplish the undocking and redocking.

On the second mission day, as they moved toward the station, Gibson, Charles Precourt and Bonnie Dunbar began activating the Spacelab module in preparations for life sciences investigations.

They used the lower body negative pressure unit and a baroreflex neck cuff to test cardiovascular orthostatic function response to microgravity.

However, after the Soyuz module had to redock a few minutes sooner than planned when the Mir onboard computer which controls station attitude and solar array pointing malfunctioned.

[3] The primary purpose of the second space walk on 19 July was to deploy the Belgian-French MIRAS (Mir infrared spectrometer) on the far end of the Spektr module.

But minutes after the EA began, Solovyev's Orlan-DMA suit cooling system malfunctioned and the TsUP ordered him to stay attached by an umbilical to Kvant 2.

he also retrieved the American cosmic ray detector, TREK, which had been on Kvant 2 surface since 1991 and switched out cassettes of sample construction materials as part of an ongoing space exposure experiment.

his time outside totaled 3 hours and 8 minutes, but the troubles were not all over: After closing the Kvant 2 EVA hatch, the cosmonauts found a 2 mm gap in the seal through which air was escaping.

[3] Launched by a Soyuz booster from Baikonur on 20 July, Progress M-28 bore 2.4 tons of food and water, fuel and oxidizer, and science equipment including about 335 kg for use during Euromir 95.

[3] Packed with trash and obsolete equipment, Progress M-28 left the -X port on 4 September and splashed down into the Pacific, thus clearing the way for Soyuz TM-22 to dock with the next Mir crew.