Euromir 94

Euromir 94 was ESA's first mission to Russia's Mir space station and Ulf Merbold's third spaceflight. Merbold launched from Baikonur on Soyuz TM-20 with Aleksandr Viktorenko and Yelena Kondakova on October 3, 1994 UTC, docked with Mir on October 6, and spent about a month aboard the station as a research cosmonaut. The mission concentrated on European life-science, materials-science, and technology investigations while giving ESA teams operational experience with Russian spacecraft, Star City training, Mir payload support, and long-duration station work ahead of Columbus and International Space Station cooperation. Merbold returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-19 with Yuri Malenchenko and Talgat Musabayev on November 4, 1994.