On April 4, 2000, cosmonauts Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri's Soyuz TM was launched, docking with Mir on April 6. Thus began the world's first privately funded manned space mission. The purpose of the Mir 28 manned mission was to reactivate Mir and determine what systems needed to be repaired by the following mission.
After 73 days in orbit, the Mir 28 crew returned to Earth on June 16, 2000. Unfortunately the Mir proved the be unsalvagable for economic and technical reasons. This was the last crew to visit the station before its fiery end.
