Soyuz TM-30 - Mission Highlights

Mission Highlights

Soyuz TM-30 launched at 5:01:29 UT on April 4, 2000. Docking occurred on April 6 at 6:31:24 UT. Although the Soyuz docking system is automated under normal conditions, the final few meters of the approach to the station were executed in manual mode. The decision to switch to manual mode came after the cosmonauts noticed a small deviation in the spacecraft's approach to the targeted docking port. At about 9:32 UT on the day of docking, the crew prepared to open the hatches between the Soyuz spacecraft and the station. After entering the station the crew stabilized the atmosphere inside Mir and undertook routine maintenance work.

On April 25, an unmanned Progress resupply mission, Progress M1-2, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the station to deliver supplies to the crew. Progress M1-2 docked with Mir on April 27. On April 26, the Progress M1-1 spacecraft, which had been docked since February and was used by the Russian Federal Space Agency to boost the station to a higher orbit, undocked and de-orbited over the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand.

The mission's only Extra-Vehicular Activity, or spacewalk, took place on May 12. The primary objectives of the spacewalk were to repair damage to Mir's exterior components and record panoramas of the station's hull in order for experts on Earth to analyze the effects of space on the station itself. The cosmonauts inspected a malfunctioning solar array on the Kvant-1 module of the station. They discovered that a burnt-through wire connecting the array with its steering system was preventing its proper rotation. The array was subsequently deemed a loss.

On June 15, 2000, the TM-30 spacecraft undocked from the station at about 21:24 UT. The de-orbit burn occurred at about 23:52 UT and landing followed at about 00:44 UT on June 16, about 45 kilometers (28 mi) southeast of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.