Russia launches Soyuz TM-26 on a mission to the Mir space station, which suffered numerous major malfunctions and damage during its previous crew’s stay. Aboard the Soyuz are specially selected cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov, who have trained on the ground to inspect and repair the damage to the station, though they are unable to find the hull damage to the now-abandoned Spektr module which threatened to cause total decompression of the station. They do manage to restore most of Mir’s solar power generating capability during their 197-day stay, returning to Earth in February 1998 with French spationaut Léopold Eyharts.
