Apr 4 2000
From The Space Library
Russian cosmonauts Sergei V. Zalyotin and Alexander Y. Kaleri launched from Earth aboard Soyuz TM-30, headed for the Mir space station. In their planned two-month mission, more than seven months after the last crew members had left the high-maintenance spacecraft, the men aimed to restore Mir to working order. Many experts had assumed that Mir's days as an active space research center were finished when the previous crew of cosmonauts left the station. Although unable to pay to keep cosmonauts aboard Mir, Russia was still hoping to obtain funding to keep the space station in operation and had not taken it out of orbit. When the Netherlands-based MirCorp had agreed to pay US$20 million to lease the Russian-owned station, Russia had scrambled to put together a crew for a repair mission. The departure of Soyuz caused some concern in the international space community, once again raising speculation regarding Russia's commitment to the International Space Station.
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