| Mir EO-13 | |||||
24 January 1993 05:58 GMT. Landing Date: 1993-07-22 06:41:52. Flight Time: 179.03 days. Alternate Name: Soyuz TM-16. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-16. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-16. Call Sign: Vulkan (Volcano ). Crew: Manakov, Polishchuk. Backup Crew: Usachyov, Tsibliyev. Program: Mir. Manned two crew. Mir Expedition EO-13. Transported to the Mir manned orbital station a crew of the thirteenth main expedition comprising the cosmonauts G M Manakov and A F Poleschuk.The Soyuz carried the APAS androgynous docking system instead of the usual probe system. Soyuz TM-16 landed at 06:42 GMT on July 22. Narrative (adapted from D S F Portree's Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, 1995) On January 26, 1993 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. On February 4 Progress M-15 undocked from Mir and backed to a distance of 230 m. The spacecraft fired thrusters to cause it to rotate about its long axis, after which it successfully deployed a 20-m, 40-kg foil reflector called Znamya ("banner") from its orbital module. It was a test of a future solar reflector/solar sail designed to illuminate and warm regions on the Earth’s surface not in direct sunlight, such as the polar regions in winter. The experiment lasted only 6 min, during which time Progress M-15 and the nearby Mir complex passed over Europe along a path from Lyon, in southern France, through Prague in the Czech Republic, to Gomel in eastern Belarus. Znamya was sighted in the predawn sky in many places along the path, including southern France, eastern Poland, and Belarus. Manakov and Poleshchuk observed the test from Mir. Znamya was then cast off. The collapsed, tumbling reflector remained visible from the surface for 24 hr. It was seen as a glittering object over much of Canada. After discarding Znamya, Progress M-15 was controlled by the cosmonauts on Mir at a distance of 200 m. The test lasted 12 min. Progress M-15 was deorbited by command from the TsUP on February 7. Progress M-16 delivered replacement parts when it arrived on February 23. On March 2 Manakov and Poleshchuk replaced Mir’s air conditioning unit. They also replaced components in the part of the communication system linking Mir to the Cosmos 2054 Altair/SR satellite. Over the next week the cosmonauts installed new gyrodynes in Kvant 2 and replaced parts in the computers. On March 19 Poleshchuk and Manakov connected the electrical systems of Kvant 2 and Kristall. Soon after, they tested the new gyrodynes in Kvant 2 by moving the complex. Progress M-16 undocked early on March 26 and backed off to a distance of 70 m under control of the cosmonauts inside Mir. They then commanded Progress M-16 to approach and dock. The operation was completed within 20 min of initial undocking. Final undocking on March 27 was initiated and controlled in its initial stages by Poleshchuk and Manakov. The TsUP took control for the final stages of the cargo ship’s flight and its destructive re-entry. Progress M-17 arrived on April 2 with new equipment. Late on April 19, Poleshchuk and Manakov opened the airlock hatch on Kvant 2 to begin the first of three planned EVAs. Its objective was to install solar array electric drives on the sides of Kvant. These would later receive the collapsible solar arrays from Kristall. Poleshchuk climbed down the length of Kvant 2 to the base of the Strela telescoping boom attached to the base block. Manakov then fixed himself to the end of the boom, at which point Poleshchuk swung the boom to move him to the installation site on Kvant. A container holding one of the electric drives was transferred using the boom. With difficulty the cosmonauts attached the drive to one of the frameworks which had been assembled on opposite sides of Kvant in 1991 by Titov and Manarov. Poleshchuk noticed that one of two control handles for the Strela boom had come off and floated away. A new handle would have to be sent up from Earth before work could continue. The EVA lasted 5 hr, 25 min. While they waited for delivery of a replacement handle, the second EVA, planned for April 23, was cancelled. The cosmonauts carried out routine maintenance on the water regeneration, electricity supply, and onboard computer systems. They also conducted Rezonans tests. Progress M-18’s docking on 24 May marked the first time a Soviet station was attended by two Progress craft at the same time. In addition to the replacement handle for the telescoping boom, Progress M-18 delivered replacement water pumps for the thermal control system and computer parts. On June 18 Poleshchuk and Manakov exited the station and repaired the boom, then installed the second solar array electric drive. They completed their EVA tasks by televising images of Mir’s exterior. In a unique manoeuvre on July 3, Progress M-18 undocked from Mir, clearing the port for the docking only minutes later of Soyuz TM-17 with the EO-14 crew of Vasili Tsibliyev and Alexandr Serebrov and French cosmonaut Haignere. The EO-13 crew returned to earth together with Haignere aboard Soyuz TM-16 on July 22. Progress M-18 remained docked to the station in a systems longevity test. Mir EO-13 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 |