A good day. Woke up at 10 o’clock. Mission Control gave us permission to open the hatch of Progress-16 right away. We quickly performed the operation using the old method — bracing our feet against it, since the seal rubber creates suction. We opened it; the cargo ship arrived spacious, not tightly packed — the main focus was on delivering fuel.

First thing, we searched for the mail and gifts. Read them, and I had a feeling there was more. I climbed into the cargo ship, opened the first container, and there were letters — about 10 for me. Lots of letters from friends. Vitalik writes well. They sent us lots of newspapers and magazines — well done, Lyusya. Now we’ll have enough to last until the end of the flight. Such joy! We immediately started talking cheerfully with Mission Control.

The path to space orbit runs through long study and hard labor, through mastering complex technology, acquiring many specialties, through countless training sessions in the air, on the ground, and on the water.

After that, we continued unloading. Tomorrow will be a hard day — we’re performing a new experiment, Tavriya, which we hadn’t practiced on the ground. Today I liked that there were many specialists on the communication link. Our requirement that they clearly define the objectives before each experiment is being followed.

By evening I gorged on sweets, jam, and candy until my stomach ached. The artist Seryozha Bochkarov sent a watercolor portrait of Vitalik (lifelike) and a drawing of L.I. Brezhnev with Gagarin, so we could sign it here on board, stamp it with the onboard seal, and then present it to him as a gift. About a hundred envelopes were sent for autographs from the cosmodrome and from TsUP.

We’re passing over the Soviet Union, the evening news is on. I dropped everything and went to bed, but before sleeping I want to read more letters and savor them.