This ship separated from on 14.08.97 at 08.55.58 UTC and flew away at 09.01.57 UTC.

The return capsule (S.A.) of Soyuz-TM25 made a safe landing on 14.08.97 at 12.17.10 UTC at a distance of appr. 160 KM S.E. of Dzjeskazgan in Kazakhstan. The landing took place later than estimated and CNN did not bring the landing as 'live event'. For a long time TsUP could not give the exact spot where the S.A. came down. The radio traffic in which the farewell ceremony took place, and in which the relieved crew went on board Soyuz-TM25 and closed the hatches took place via the facilities of White Sands and Wallops in the U.S.A. and the tracking stations in the East of Russia.

When Mir and Soyuz-TM25 entered daylight at abt. 1118 UTC communications with TsUP were established via Altair-2 in which Mir relayed traffic from and to Soyuz-TM25 via Altair-2 to TsUP. At abt. 1122 UTC Tsibliyev reported the beginning of the de-orbit burn. He reported continuously the results of the impulses in meters/sec and at 1126 UTC he said that the de-orbit burn had stopped. He went on reporting details of the descent process and at 1145 UTC he announced the separation of the BO (life compartment) and the instrument/motor module from the SA (descent module) in 3 minutes. This took place at 1148 UTC just before the 3 objects entered the dense layers of the atmosphere.

The BO and Instrument/motor block burnt up and the SA came in the plasma wave. Radio contact ceased and contrary to previous return flights did not come back via Altair. The voices of the men on board Mir could be heard. Foale said that he had seen the Soyuz-TM25 disappearing below them. Altair-2 was switched off at 1201 UTC.

Plans for tomorrow (15.08): Redocking of Soyuz-TM26 with on board the 3 crew members of Mir from the aft to the forward docking port. After undocking from Mir Soyuz-TM26 will hover and wait until Mir turned 180 dgs so that the forward (P.Kh.O.) port will be in front of Soyuz-TM26. During this operation lasting from abt. 1322-1410 UTC the crew will carry out an extensive photo- and video observation for damage assessment.

Progress-M35: As far as known at deadline for this report Progress-M35 will redock at Mir's aft docking port on 17.08.97 at abt 1330 UTC. (So not as suggested in previous reports on 16.08.1997).

Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.