Mir EO-6

Mir EO-6 was the sixth long-duration resident expedition to the Mir space station. Anatoly Solovyev and Aleksandr Balandin launched from Baikonur Site 1/5 on Soyuz TM-9 on February 11, 1990, docked with Mir on February 13, and returned on Soyuz TM-9 on August 9 after 179 days, 1 hour, and 17 minutes in space. The mission included station systems work, geophysical, astrophysical, biological, biotechnology, and materials-science research, arrival and activation of the Kristall module, and two EVAs by Solovyev and Balandin to inspect and manage Soyuz TM-9 thermal-blanket and Kvant-2 airlock hatch issues.