Wikipedia
The VBK-Raduga capsule was a reentry capsule that was used for returning materials to Earth's surface from the space station Mir. They were brought to Mir in the Progress-M cargo craft's dry cargo compartment. For return, the capsule would be substituted for the Progress' docking probe before it left the space station, and then after the Progress-M performed its deorbit burn, the capsule was ejected at 120 km altitude to reenter the atmosphere independently. It would then parachute to a landing area in Russia.
Each Raduga was about 1.5 m long, 60 cm in diameter, and had an unloaded mass of about 350 kg. It could return about 150 kg of cargo back to Earth. Use of the Raduga reduced the Progress-M's cargo capacity by about 100 kg, to a maximum of about 2400 kg.
The European Space Agency studied a very similar system called PARES (Payload Retrieval System), for use in combination with the Automated Transfer Vehicle.
Capsule
Launch date
Carried by
Notes
VBK-Raduga 1
27 September 1990
Progress M-5
VBK-Raduga 2
19 March 1991
Progress M-7
Lost on reentry
VBK-Raduga 3
20 August 1991
Progress M-9
VBK-Raduga 4
17 October 1991
Progress M-10
VBK-Raduga 5
19 April 1992
Progress M-12
VBK-Raduga 6
15 August 1992
Progress M-14
VBK-Raduga 7
31 March 1993
Progress M-17
Capsule returned by Progress M-18
VBK-Raduga 8
10 August 1993
Progress M-19
VBK-Raduga 9
11 October 1993
Progress M-20
VBK-Raduga 10
22 March 1994
Progress M-22