| Mir EO-12 | |||||
27 July 1992 06:08 GMT. Landing Date: 1993-02-01 03:47:59. Flight Time: 188.90 days. Alternate Name: Soyuz TM-15 (Avdeyev, Solovyov). Flight Up: Soyuz TM-15. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-15. Call Sign: Rodnik (Spring - water spring). Crew: Avdeyev, Solovyov. Backup Crew: Manakov, Polishchuk. Program: Mir. Mir Expedition EO-12. Russian astronauts Solovyov and Avdeev and French astronaut Tognini were inserted into an initial 190 x 200 km orbit inclined 51.6 deg. Later on July 27 they maneuvered to a 223 x 343 km orbit, and on July 28 docked with Mir in its 405 x 410 km orbit. Aleksandr Solovyov and Sergey Avdeev undocked from the Mir complex aboard Soyuz TM-15 on February 1 and landed the same day in Kazakhstan after six months in space at 03:58 GMT. Soyuz TM-15's flight was an in-orbit record for a Soyuz spaceship - 188 days 21 h 39 m. Narrative (adapted from D S F Portree's Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, 1995) Soyuz TM-15 arrived on 29 July. Aboard were the EO-12 crew of Anatoli Solovyov and Sergei Avdeyev, together with Michel Tognini, the third Frenchman to visit a space station. He conducted ten experiments using 300 kg of equipment delivered by Progress-M flights. The EO-11 crew returned to earth together with Tognini aboard Soyuz TM-14 on 9 August, 1992. The EO-12 began work with their major assignment, installation of the VDU thruster unit on the station. Progress M-14 arrived at the station on 14 August. The modified Progress-M spacecraft docked at the Kvant port. In place of a tanker compartment, it carried a 700-kg VDU thruster unit designed to be installed atop the Sofora girder mounted on Kvant. The unit was designed to improve Mir's attitude control capabilities. Commands from the TsUP automatically unloaded the VDU unit on September 2. Avdeyev and Solovyov moved the VDU to the work site and prepared the Sofora girder on September 3. EVA duration was 3 hr, 56 min. On September 7 the cosmonauts bent Sofora back on a hinge at one-third of its length to make its top more accessible, and laid a control cable along the girder. They also removed the remnants of the Soviet flag placed on the mast during its assembly in 1991. It had been reduced to shreds by UV degradation and orbital debris and meteoroid impacts. EVA duration was 5 hr, 8 min. On September 11 the cosmonauts attached the VDU unit atop the Sofora girder and hoisted it into position by straightening the girder. The EVA lasted 5 hr, 44 min. On a September 15 EVA Solovyov and Avdeyev retrieved solar cell and materials samples and moved the Kurs rendezvous antenna on Kristall so it could be used by Soyuz TM-16. The cosmonauts released the 16.5-kg MAK-2 satellite from the Mir base block’s experiment airlock on November 20. Its purpose was to study Earth’s ionosphere. The derelict 550-kg Cosmos 1508 satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1983, passed within 300 m of Mir on November 8. On January 26, 1994 Soyuz TM-16 arrived and created a unique Mir configuration when it docked with the lateral APAS-89 docking unit on Kristall. This tested the unit for future operations. EO-13 mission commander Manakov was paying his second visit to Mir. Alexandr Poleshchuk was on his first mission. On January 28 the cosmonauts carried out Rezonans tests on the Mir complex, which at this time weighed more than 90 tons (its heaviest ever) and included seven separately launched spacecraft. The EO-12 crew of Avdeyev and Solovyov return to Earth on February 1. The Soyuz TM-15 descent module lowered to Earth beneath low clouds, touched down, and rolled partway down a hillock. It came to rest 150 m from a frozen marsh. Mir EO-12 Chronology
Bibliography and Further Reading
| |||||
|
Contact us with any corrections, additions, or comments. Conditions for use of drawings, pictures, or other materials from this site.. To contact astronauts or cosmonauts. © Mark Wade, 1997 - 2007 except where otherwise noted. |
|
Encyclopedia Astronautica topic index 0 - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - Ra - Re - Sa - Sf - Sp - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z |