Soyuz TM-23, launched February 21, 1996, was the 25th manned mission to the space station Mir. Its crew consisted of Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Yury Usachov. It docked with Mir on February 23, and joined expedition EO-21 which included Shannon Lucid.
They performed an EVA on March 15, the second on May 20, a third May 24, the fourth on May 30, the fifth on June 6 and the final one on June 13.
Soyuz TM-23 undocked from Mir on September 2 and returned to Earth with Claudie Andre-Deshays on board.
Yuri Onufriyenko, born February 6, 1961 in Ukraine, is a veteran of three space flights (one Soyuz, two space shuttles), which included extended stays aboard Mir and the International Space Station.
His first trip into space was aboard SoyuzTM-23 in February 1996 to Mir as commander of the Mir EO-21 expedition. He returned to Earth September 2.
His next mission was to the International Space Station aboard Endeavour (STS-108) December 2001 where he would serve as commander of Expedition 4.
He returned to Earth on Endeavour (STS-111) June 2002.
L-R: Mark Kelly, Linda Godwin, Daniel Tani, Dominic Pudwill Gorie
Mission Patch
Endeavour (STS-108) launched December 5, 2001, was the first mission after the 9/11 attacks and the crew honored the victims during the flight. Endeavour's crew was Commander Dominic Pudwill Gorie, Pilot Mark E. Kelly, Mission Specialist Linda Godwin and Mission Specialist Daniel Tani.
She carried the crew of Expedition 4 to the International Space Station: Yuri Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch. On her return, she brought back the crew of Expedition 3: Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Turin, and Vladimir Dezhurov.
An American flag that was recovered the morning of Sept 12, 2001 from the site of the World Trade Center wreckage, a USMC flag recovered from the Pentagon and an American flag flown over the State Capital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania flew on the Endeavour that mission.
Also, 23 badges of fallen NYPD officers and 6000 small American flags to honor those lost flew on the Space shuttle. The 6000 flags were given to families who lost loved ones on 9/11.
During the mission Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani performed an EVA which lasted a little over 4 hours. Endeavour landed on December 17.
