Mir
Despite the fact that microgravity conditions are typically 10-100 times worse on a manned versus an unmanned spacecraft, man-tended experiments on Soviet-built space stations, some lasting more than a week, proved to be quite successful. The other principal drawback of materials science research on Mir - the extremely limited capability of returning samples to Earth - was reduced in late November, 1990, when the Progress M recoverable capsule was successfully tested for the first time. This system is now used approximately twice each year, returning up to 150 kg of cargo (including the product of materials science research) per mission.
Whereas specific details of Mir operations are covered in Section 3.6, a list of major materials science devices delivered to the station are included here for completeness. In 1987 three electric furnaces were delivered to Mir: Korund-1M, Kristallizator, and Mirror-Beam. These were augmented or superseded in 1990 by the five new furnaces installed on the Kristall module: Krater V, Kristallizator, Optizon, Zona 2, and Zona 3. Other Mir materials science devices have been used for electrophoresis (Aynur-Kristall, EFU Robot, Ruchey, and Svetlana), protein crystallization (Aynur-Mir), and miscellaneous experiments (Biostoykost, Svetoblok, and Yantar). Most materials science experiments are of Russian origin, but some are created by Ukrainian specialists.
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