1.   On Mir, the cosmonauts spend up to four hours a day exercising intensively.

2.   Russian cosmonauts spend months at a time in space, with the last record of more than a year about to be overtaken by a cosmonaut now at Mir.

3.   Gearing up for a walk in space, a Russian cosmonaut on Mir spent Thursday altering his spacesuit after it was worn last month by an American astronaut.

4.   Mir cosmonauts spend some of their abundant spare time playing a guitar.

5.   Two cosmonauts are spending their first day on the damaged Russian space station Friday learning their way around and preparing for a daunting repair mission.