it was publicly announced that Aleksandr Aleksandrov would replace Aleksandr Laveykin as one of the EO-2 long term crew members, and Laveykin would return to Earth a week later with the EP-1 crew. The desire to have favourable daylight conditions during passes over Syria was the primary motivation for the timing of the mission. Several experiments were conducted with Faris on board, and Syria was observed from space. On July 29, Soyuz TM-2 undocked from the station, and carried Faris, Viktorenko, and Laveykin. Once on the ground, Laveykin was flown to Moscow to be examined by heart specialists. They determined that he was fit to fly after all. August to December 1987 Of the six Progress spacecraft which docked with the station during EO-3, three of them arrived during the second segment: Progress 31 - Docked 5 August, undocked 21 September Progress 32 - Docked 26 September, undocked 10 November Progress 33 - Docked 23 November, undocked 19 December Handover to Mir EO-3 The spacecraft Soyuz TM-4 docked with Mir, via the rear port of Kvant, on 23 December. It brought to the station Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov of the next long-duration expedition EO-3. Also brought to the station was potential Buran space shuttle pilot, Anatoli Levchenko, who returned to Earth with the EO-2 crew. Levchenko's spaceflight, which lasted for the duration of the EO-2/EO-3 crew handover, is known as Mir LII-1. See also List of Mir Expeditions References http://www.spacefacts.de/mir/english/mir-2.htm Mir 1987 in the Soviet Union