A special edition all-white 8000i was made, together with a white zoom lens and white 5200i flash; all three sold together as an outfit. That special edition 8000i (Alpha-8700i in Japan), sold with a white 5200i flash and a white AF 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5 lens, was released in December 1990 to commemorate the use of a similar Minolta model by Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) journalist Toyohiro Akiyama in the Russian space station Mir. Akiyama, who stayed in Mir for eight days in December 1990, became the first journalist and the first Japanese to go into space. Minolta supplied him with a package of specially produced photographic equipment that included an all-white a-8700i, a 3200i flash unit, and three AF lenses: a 24-50mm f/4, a 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5 and a 100-300 f/4.5-5.6. When Akiyama returned to Earth, his Minolta equipment was left behind for use by the Russian crew who remained in the space station.