As the Progress M30 tanker was launched to the Mir 1 space station on 18 December, the Russian space agency said that the 1996 schedule for the station will include launches of the final module, the Priroda; four Progress M tankers; three manned Soyuz TMs; and three docking flights by the US Space Shuttle Atlantis. Germany has officially booked a second flight of a national space agency astronaut to the orbital space base, in December 1996, while France flies its fifth Mir 1 mission in July.
Source: Flight International
