Mir EP-2

{{short description|Short-term expedition to Mir space station}}

{{Infobox spaceflight

| name = Mir EP-2

| image =

| image_caption =

| insignia = Soyuz TM-5 mission patch.svg

| mission_type = Mir visiting crew

| mission_duration = 9.84 days (launch to landing)

| orbits_completed =

| crew_size = Three

| crew_members = Anatoly Solovyev
Viktor Savinykh
Aleksandr Aleksandrov

| crew_callsign = Родни́к (Rodnik- Spring)

| crew_EVAs =

| crew_EVA_duration =

| crew_photo =

| crew_photo_caption =

| space_station = Mir

| start_date = {{start-date|7 June 1988}}

| end_date = {{end-date|17 June 1988}}

| arrival_craft = Soyuz TM-5{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mirep2.htm |title=Mir EP-2 |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica |accessdate=26 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100108025612/http://astronautix.com/flights/mirep2.htm |archivedate=8 January 2010 }}

| departure_craft = Soyuz TM-4

| previous_mission = EP-1

| next_mission = EP-3

| programme = Mir Visiting Expeditions

}}

Mir EP-2 was a visiting expedition to the Mir space station conducted in June 1988 by cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev, Viktor Savinykh and Aleksandr Aleksandrov. Launched aboard the Soyuz TM-5 spacecraft, the crew spent ten days in space before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-4. The mission occurred while the EO-3 crew were aboard Mir.

Solovyev commanded the mission, with Savinykh as his flight engineer, while Bulgarian Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov flew as a research cosmonaut. Aleksandrov was the second Bulgarian to fly in space, the first being Georgi Ivanov, who flew on Soyuz 33. Ivanov failed to reach the Salyut 6 space station as his mission was aborted prior to docking due to an engine failure aboard his spacecraft Soyuz 33.{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/flights/sal6ep51.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040109130723/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/sal6ep51.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 9, 2004|title=Salyut 6 EP-5-1|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|accessdate=15 November 2010}} As a result, prior to EP-2, Bulgaria was the only Eastern European Soviet ally to not have one of its citizens visit a Soviet space station.{{cite web|url=http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/RP1357.pdf |title=Mir Hardware Heritage |author=D.S.F. Portree |publisher=NASA |accessdate=26 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907191412/http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/RP1357.pdf |archivedate=7 September 2009 }}