July 10, 2008:  Start of the Mirs on Baikal International Research Expedition.  A Ruslan strategic military transport aircraft delivers the Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles from Kaliningrad – the homeport of the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh scientific research craft – to Ulan-Ude, from where the craft are transferred to Lake Baikal.  This marks the most ambitious shipment of the Mir manned submersibles ever staged.

July 11, 2008:  A red carpet welcome for the Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles is staged on Ulan-Ude’s central square.  In keeping with the national tradition of Buryatia, members of the Mirs on Baikal expedition are presented national white “khadak” scarves – a symbol of water, purity and good will.  The Ulan-Ude presentation includes welcoming addresses by: Republic of Buryatia President V. V. Nagovitsyn; the Buryatia People’s Khural Chairman M. M. Gershevich; Director of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. K. Tulokhonov; and A. M. Sagalevich, Director of the Manned Submersibles Laboratory of the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
July 24, 2008:  The first successful technical submersions of Mir-1 and Mir-2 into Lake Baikal.  The Mir manned submersibles are lowered into the water from the Metropoliya special-purpose ship.  In the future, Metropoliya will also transport the Mir manned submersibles to their dislocation points, lowering them into the water and raising them back onto the craft.  The first Mir submersions into Lake Baikal are conducted at a depth of 420 meters, some six kilometers from Turka Port.
Piloted by A. M. Sagalevich and E. S. Chernyayev, the Mir-1 and Mir-2 crews include representatives of Germany’s Lloyd company.  Lloyd specialists test the Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles at various depths and certify the crafts’ instruments, describing the Mir manned submersibles’ condition as excellent.
According to E. S. Chernyayev, the submersibles’ preparation for the freshwater submersions represents the most responsible stage the Mir on Baikal expedition’s organization process.  With this in mind, he calls the operational preparations an enormous success that has fully readied the Mir submersibles for their first full-scale scientific expedition.  The expedition’s deputy chief A. M. Sagalevich noted the outstanding organization of the comprehensive scientific research expedition, expressing his personal gratitude to M. V. Slipenchuk.
July 29, 2008:  The first scientific submersions of the Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles are staged in the deepest portion of Lake Baikal, between Olkhon Island and the Svyatoi Nos Peninsula.

The Mir-1 manned submersible sets off at 1:30 pm local time.  Its crew includes the President of the Republic of Buryatia V. V. Nagovitsyn, the Head of  METROPOL Group of Companies M. V. Slipenchuk, and A. M. Sagalevich, Director of the Manned Submersibles Laboratory of the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The submersion of the Mir-2 manned submersibles assumes 20 minutes later.  Its crew includes pilot E. S. Chernyayev, State Duma of the Russian Federation Deputy V. S. Gruzdev, and A. K. Tulokhonov, Director of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Mir-1 manned submersible lowers a 50-centimeter triangular pyramid to a depth of 1,580 meters.  The small object bears the coats of arms of Russia and Buryatia, as well as an inscription reading “85th Anniversary of the Republic of Buryatia.”  The Mir-2 manned submersible lowers two titanium flags to the bottom of the lake – one of the Russian Federation and the other of the Republic of Buryatia – as well as a small capsule with a message to future generations from the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal.
The Mirs of Baikal scientific research expedition’s Director and Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal President A. N. Chilingarov observes the expedition’s progress from the deck of the Metropoliya special-purpose ship.  The Mir-1 manned submersible resurfaces on Lake Baikal at around 7:30 pm and is raised back onboard the Metropoliya.  The Mir-2 manned submersible reemerges at 9:00 pm.  During their mission, the two craft take soil and water samples, receive data about the animal and plant kingdoms of Lake Baikal, and pick up new information about the tectonic processes occurring at the bottom of the basin.
Upon the submersions’ completion, members of the Mir on Baikal International Research Expedition stage a press conference onboard the Metropoliya.  It is attended by all the members of the two Mir crews, as well as the expedition Director A. N. Chilingarov.
The deputy mission chief A. M. Sagalevich tells reporters that both Mir manned submersibles were lowered in a spot that is considered to mark the deepest point of Lake Baikal – a depth of some 1,637 meters.  According to preliminary instrument readings, however, the depth at the point of the submersions stood at 1,580 meters.  After passing several miles along the bottom of the lake, the expedition crews are unable to detect any sudden changes in the depth.
Later, the researchers refine their sensor readings (the Mir manned submersibles’ sensors are designed to operate in saline seawater).  This readjustment shows that the two Mir craft had in fact submerged to depths of 1,622 and 1,634 meters, respectively. 
However, it is still premature to discuss any reviews about the true depths of lake – many more submersions are planned, and the expedition crews do not exclude the possibility of finding even lower depths on Lake Baikal.

During the press conference, Head of METROPOL Group of Companies and Chairman of the Guardianship Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal M. V. Slipenchuk points the journalists’ attention to the fact that these submersions were not being staged in pursuit of a record.  Rather, they are designed to obtain new data that can help further the development of Russian science.  Expedition chief A. N. Chilingarov thanks M. V. Slipenchuk for organizing the scientific research expedition, especially underscoring the enormous work that is being done for the overall good of Russia.
Republic of Buryatia President V. V. Nagovitsyn, who joined the Mir-1 crew, thanks the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal’s leadership for granting him the opportunity to conduct this submersion and to personally ensure that the bottom of the lake was clean.  In confirmation of these words, all seven members of the expedition take sips of water from a capsule that they filled at the bottom of Lake Baikal.
August 2, 2008:  The Mir manned submersibles embark on scheduled scientific research submersions some 14 miles off Olkhon Island.  The Mir-1 crew includes the Deputy Director of the Mirs on Baikal expedition and Chairman of the Technical Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal A. M. Sagalevich, the Director of the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and academician R. I. Nigmatulin, and Ulan-Ude Mayor G. A. Aydayev.  The Mir-1 manned submersible reach a depth of 1,313 meters.  It completes a set of geological studies on the lake’s floor, sampling the region’s sediment and collecting water samples at various depths.
The Mir-2 crew includes pilot E. S. Chernyayev and P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Professor B. I. Nigmatulin.  The Mir-2 manned submersible conducts a safety system check on the craft and tests its new equipment.  Both Mir manned submersibles spend about four hours under water.
August 4, 2008:  The Mirs on Baikal International Scientific Research Expedition stages a Moscow press conference that is attended by: A. N. Chilingarov, President of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal and expedition Director; V.  A. Grachyov, State Duma of the Russian Federation Deputy and environmental issues coordinator for United Russia; V. I. Strugatsky, Vice President of the Association of Russian Polar Explorers; and the Deputy Dean of the Geography Faculty of the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University S. A. Dobrolyubov.
The press conference summarizes the results of the first stage of submersions that the Mir manned submersibles conducted within the frameworks of the Mir on Baikal International Scientific Research Exhibition.  A. N. Chilingarov reports that expedition organizers faced a number of complicated technical challenges involving the Mir manned submersibles’ delivery to Lake Baikal, organization of the carrier craft’s mode of operation, and the manned submersibles’ lowering method, among others.
The press conference also includes a direct phone-in presentation by the Head of the METROPOL Group of Companies and Chairman of the Guardianship Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal M. V. Slipenchuk.  He says that organizers prepared the mission with two specific goals in mind: to pursue the comprehensive study of Lake Baikal, and to direct state, business and public officials’ attention to the problems facing the Baikal region’s population.  The region’s residents are living in poverty despite having every right to use the riches of their land.  But, as M. V. Slipenchuk points  out, this utilization of the Baikal region’s natural resources must be conducted under careful scientific control.
The press conferences further includes a direct phone-in presentation by the Director of the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences member R. I. Nigmatulin, who heaps warm praise on the expedition’s organization.  He also notes that the most interesting studies on the soil’s geology will be conducted at upcoming submersions, which are scheduled for the southern portion of Lake Baikal.
August 4, 2008:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 stage another successful scheduled scientific research submersion in Lake Baikal.  The Mir manned submersibles’ crew includes several staff members from the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  The submersions are staged near Maksimikha Bay, which is part of Lake Baikal’s Barguzin Bay.  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles reach a depth of some 850 meters.  The two vessels work about two kilometers apart.  The submersions last for several hours and include geological studies of the soil.  The scientists discover a new, previously-unknown type of Baikal Planariidae – a family of small flatworms that inhabit deep waters.
August 6, 2008:  During one of their Mir submersions, staff members from the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences discover a spot from which oil flows into the lake’s waters.  The oil-flow location is identified at a depth of 850 meters, just south of the mouth of Barguzin Bay.
Dr. Mikhail Grachyov, who heads the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that the samples taken during the submersion could hold the key to the origin’s of the lake’s oil.

August 11, 2008:  Several sponges inhabiting the bottom of Lake Baikal are recovered during one of the Mir submersions.  Later studies confirm that researchers have discovered a previously-unknown type of Lake Baikal endemic – a blue sponge.
August 12, 2008:  A new round of Mir submersions include the staff members of the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of General and Experimental Biology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Geology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  The submersions are staged at depths ranging between 40 and 1,580 meters, just south of Cape Ukhan.
August 13, 2008:  The Mir manned submersibles stage a submersion just north of Cape Izhimey.  Scientists take their first-ever samples of representatives of deep-water Lake Baikal Spongillas.  They scientifically classify the discovered Lake Baikal sponges and take water, rock and silt samples at depths ranging between 1,213 and 1,553 meters.  These samples later put through a series of microbiological, mineralogical, chemical and hydrobiological tests.
August 14, 2008:  The new round of Mir submersions includes the writer Valentin Grigoryevich Rasputin.  The Mir-1 manned submersible takes the author to a depth of 800 meters, also sampling water during its three-hour mission.  V. G. Rasputin shares his first impressions immediately after returning the surface: “I thought that I knew Lake Baikal well.  It turns that this was not the case, particularly as far as its underwater world is concerned.  And there is an amazing world down there, one that has not yet been fully understood or even named – but which is incredibly rich.  You get a sense of order down there, a sense of special beauty and peace, friendship and – what is most important – complete absence of anger.  Yes, these are lower forms of life living down there – but in some sense, they are far above us!”  The author calls Mir on Baikal an indispensable and timely expedition, expressing his desire to become fully involved in the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal.
August 15, 2008:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles stage a new set of submersions near Olkhon Island.  Their crews include staff members from the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Baikal Institute of Nature Management.
August 18, 2008:  The scientific team of the Mirs on Baikal expedition reports the Mir-1 and Mir-2 submersions’ first study results.  A total of 26 Lake Baikal submersions were conducted between July 24 and August 17, which is a kind of record for this type of expedition work.

August 20, 2008:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles stage another series of scheduled submersions near Olkhon Gates Strait.  The submersions also include a foreign observer – the US zoologist Paul Eisley.
August 22, 2008:  The RIA Novosti news agency hosts a press conference organized by the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal and the Green Sail National Public Organization.  The members of Green Sail outline the current environmental condition of Lake Baikal and its surroundings, identifying the potential threats facing the lake’s ecosystem and its status as a strategic source of Russian drinking water.  The event’s participants point but that similar submersions were conducted at the end of the last century, too.  Those, in fact, were very productive, but that the range of problems and issues facing modern science has since grown.  The technical capabilities of the equipment have also undergone substantial improvements.  The Deputy Director the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences M. V. Flint particularly highlights the importance that Mir on Baikal has to furthering Russian academic science.
August 25, 2008:  A new series of Mir-1 and Mir-2 submersions are staged near the city of Babushkin, just south of the Selenga River delta.  Staff members from the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences study the local underwater thermal spring and discover two new sources of oil discharge – ones that are significantly larger than the ones previously discovered in Barguzin Bay.
August 26, 2008:  The Mir manned submersibles use another mission to study the geological structure of Lake Baikal’s soil.
August 28, 2008:  The expedition is joined by Shinya Nishio, an expert from Japan’s Kitami Institute of Technology.  Submersions involving the Japanese scientist are staged near the bed of Goloustnoye, several kilometers off the Irkutsk shore of Lake Baikal.  Team members study the lake’s animal kingdom and methane discharges.
August 29, 2008:  The Mir manned submersibles study the geological parameters of the sediment that sifted into Lake Baikal from the local river and crags.
August 31, 2008:  The Mir manned submersibles stage a new series of missions near the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, located near Cape Shaman.  The researches take water, soil and sediment samples at depths ranging between 100 and 1,000 meters.
September 1, 2008:  The Mir-2 manned submersible reaches a depth off 300 meters off Cape Shaman – the southern-most point of Lake Baikal and one of its holy sites, which symbolizes the original point of the lake.  Staff members of the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences are joined in the mission by the renowned Baikal researched, archeologist and historian A. B. Tivanenko.
September 2, 2008:  The Mir manned submersibles conduct a mission in the southern portion of Lake Baikal – off Cape Tolsty (Fat), which runs near the Circum-Baikal Railway.  The mission’s crew includes the staff members of the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a team of visiting US scientists.

September 8, 2008:  Scientists discover a box filled with Russian Civil War-era cartridge shells during a new, 300-meter Listvennichny Bay submersion.  The researchers bring back several shells for further study.
September 10, 2008:  Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal Vice President M. Y. Borzin reports the official end of the first stage of the Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersible scientific research mission.
Between July 24 and September 8, 2008, the two Mir manned submersibles conducted a combined total of 53 submersions in Lake Baikal.  During their underwater exploration of various parts of the lake, scientists made a number of important discoveries: in particular, they uncovered oil-bearing strata, sources of gas hydrate discharges, new microorganisms, and identified the lake’s paleoshorelines.
September 15, 2008:  Having concluded their first-stage submersions, scientists from the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences who took part in the Mir manned submersible missions return to Moscow and assume processing their scientific research results.
September 17, 2008:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles are successfully delivered back to the winter resting place – the Irkutsk Aircraft Repair Plant.  The two vessels are also prepared for a new season of submersions, which will be assumed within the frameworks of the Mirs on Baikal International Scientific Research Expedition in 2009.