hoped his visit to Mir would be the start of long-term space cooperation between the two nations. He and Polyakov agreed that the present joint research might be the foundation for ultimate joint flights to Mars. During the next few days, the Mir 18 crew took their body mass measurements as a baseline for investigations throughout the mission and were briefed by the Mir 17 crew on the status of the complex and ongoing studies. The outgoing crew stowed equipment and experiment samples in Soyuz TM-20 for their return and checked out the vehicle systems. Mir 17 Mission Ends Aleksandr Viktorenko, Yelena Kondakova and Valeri Polyakov entered Soyuz TM-20 on March 21 and departed from Mir on March 22, landing safely on the same day about 50 km from Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Polyakov had set a new record for spaceflight duration: he had been on Mir since January 8, 1994 for 438 straight days. This trip, added to his Mir stay in 1988, brought his total days in space to 679. He was, however, strong enough to walk to the chairs that rescue crews provided for the cosmonauts' transport to a field hospital. He said his fit condition was a positive indication that humans could withstand a trip to Mars. Mir 18 Crew On Their Own The Mir 18 crew settled into their daily routine, collecting body fluid samples for the seven metabolic experiments to be performed during their mission. They also took air and water samples for four hygiene, sanitation and radiation experiments which would determine the role of the Mir environment in human health, safety and efficiency. Each crewman spent time in a Chibis suit for measurement of cardiovascular system responses to lower body negative pressure. In the absence of gravity, blood pools in the upper torso and head, causing cardiovascular deconditioning. The Chibis suit sealed at the waist and incrementally induced a partial vacuum, or negative pressure, which drew body fluids back to the lower extremities. Dezhurov and Strekalov also changed out a condenser in the air conditioning system, part of a long-term maintenance program to prolong the life of the station. April 1995 - Resupply and Maintenance Progress M-27 Resupplies Mir Progress M-27 was launched from Baikonur on April 9. It docked with the Mir base block on April 11 at 21:00 UTC under flawless control by the automatic Kurs system, although Dezhurov was ready to take