Mission type | Mir visiting crew |
---|---|
Mission duration | 9.84 days[1] (launch to landing) |
Expedition | |
Space station | Mir |
Began | 7 June 1988 |
Ended | 17 June 1988 |
Arrived aboard | Soyuz TM-5[1] |
Departed aboard | Soyuz TM-4[1] |
Crew | |
Crew size | Three |
Members | Anatoly Solovyev Viktor Savinykh Aleksandr Aleksandrov |
Callsign | Родни́к (Rodnik- Spring) |
Mir Visiting Expeditions |
Mir EP-2 was a visiting expedition to the Mir space station conducted in June 1988 by cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev, Viktor Savinykh and Aleksandr Aleksandrov. Launched aboard the Soyuz TM-5 spacecraft, the crew spent ten days in space before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-4. The mission occurred while the EO-3 crew were aboard Mir.
Solovyev commanded the mission, with Savinykh as his flight engineer, while Bulgarian Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov flew as a research cosmonaut. Aleksandrov was the second Bulgarian to fly in space, the first being Georgi Ivanov, who flew on Soyuz 33. Ivanov failed to reach the Salyut 6 space station as his mission was aborted prior to docking due to an engine failure aboard his spacecraft Soyuz 33.[2] As a result, prior to EP-2, Bulgaria was the only Eastern European Soviet ally to not have one of its citizens visit a Soviet space station.[3]