27 June 1995 19:32 GMT. Landing Date: 1995-09-11 06:52:41. Flight Time: 75.47 days. Alternate Name: STS-71 (Budarin, Solovyov). Flight Up: STS-71. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-21. Call Sign: Atlantis. Crew: Budarin, Solovyov. Backup Crew: Onufrienko, Usachyov. Program: Mir. Of note: First docking of US spacecraft with the Mir space station. Shuttle flight STS-71 was launched on 27 June 1995. It became the first shuttle to dock with Mir, and the first to conduct a Mir main expedition crew exchange. Aside from five American astronauts who conducted separate research in the Spacelab attached to the shuttle, on board were the Mir Expedition EO-19 crew of Budarin and Solovyov. They would remain on the station while the EO-18 crew would return to earth. On July 3 the EO-18 and STS-71 crews returned to Atlantis, and the EO-19 crew (Solovyov and Budarin) closed the Mir hatch at around 20:00 GMT. Early on July 4, the two EO-19 cosmonauts entered the Soyuz TM-21 ferry ship and prepared to undock for an exercise in joint manoeuvring and photography.
Soyuz TM-21 undocked at 10:55 GMT on Jul 4, and backed off to a distance of 100 m. Atlantis then undocked at 11:09:45 GMT and began to back away from the Mir station. As Atlantis began its flyaround at a distance of 210 m, Soyuz redocked with the Kvant module at 11:39 GMT. Redocking was about a minute early. Just prior to the redocking, one of Mir's attitude control computers crashed, putting Mir in free drift, although this was not considered a serious problem. This was Solovyov's seventh docking with Mir over the course of four missions. At 12:35 GMT, Atlantis completed its 360 degree flyaround and ignited its engines for the separation burn, while sending back spectacular TV of the Mir complex. After undocking from Mir on July 4, Atlantis spent several days on orbit, carrying out medical research work with the Spacelab-Mir module in the cargo bay.
The EO-19 crew returned to Earth on September 11 in Soyuz TM-21. Anatoli Solovyov and Nikolai Budarin undocked from the Kvant rear port on Mir at 03:30:44 GMT and landed at 50 deg 41'N 68 deg 15'E, 108 km northeast of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan, at 06:52:40 GMT.
Mir EO-19 Chronology - 1995 Jun 27 - External Airlock/ODS Payload: EAL/ODS. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle.
- 1995 Jun 27 - STS-71 Crew: Baker, Budarin, Dunbar, Gibson, Harbaugh, Precourt, Solovyov. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Payload: Atlantis F14 / Spacelab-Mir LM. Mass: 12,191 kg (26,876 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 9.81 days. Perigee: 342 km (212 mi). Apogee: 342 km (212 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 88.90 min.
Mir Expedition EO-19. Transferred Budarin, Solovyov to Mir, returned Soyuz TM-21 crew to Earth. After undocking from Mir on July 4, Atlantis spent several days on orbit,
carrying out medical research work with the Spacelab-Mir module in the cargo bay. Payloads: Shuttle/Mir Mission 1, Spacelab-Mir, IMAX camera, Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX).
- 1995 Jul 7 - Landing of STS-71
STS-71 landed at 14:55 GMT with the crew of Baker, Dezhurov, Dunbar, Gibson, Harbaugh, Precourt, Strekalov and Thagard aboard.
- 1995 Jul 19 - EVA Mir EO-19-2 Crew: Solovyov, Budarin. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.13 days. Spacecraft: Mir.
Retrieved TREK detector.
- 1995 Jul 20 - Progress M-28 Spacecraft: Progress M. Payload: Progress M s/n 228. Mass: 7,125 kg (15,707 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 46.25 days. Perigee: 393 km (244 mi). Apogee: 398 km (247 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 92.50 min.
Unmanned resupply vessel to Mir. Docked with Mir's front port on 22 Jul 1995 04:39:37 GMT. Undocked on 4 Sep 1995 05:09:53 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 4 Sep 1995 08:58:55 GMT. Total free-flight time 2.22 days. Total docked time 44.02 days. Two Icons of Saint Anastasia were taken into space aboard the craft and transferred to the Mir station where they remained for about seven months. They were returned to earth, apparently aboard Soyuz TM-22, and later shown in diffent shrines
around the world.
- 1995 Sep 3 - Soyuz TM-22 Crew: Avdeyev, Gidzenko, Reiter. Spacecraft: Soyuz TM. Payload: Soyuz TM 11F732 s/n 71. Mass: 7,150 kg (15,760 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U2. Duration: 179.07 days. Perigee: 391 km (242 mi). Apogee: 398 km (247 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 92.50 min.
Mir Expedition EO-20. Crew commander was Yuriy Pavlovich Gidzenko of the Russian Air Force. Flight engineer was Sergey Vasilyevich Avdeev of RKK Energiya, and cosmonaut-researcher was Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency. Soyuz TM-22 docked with Mir's front (-X) port at 10:29:54 GMT on September 5 and the hatch was opened at 11:01:23.
Bibliography and Further Reading - Oberg, James, Red Star in Orbit, Random House, New York, 1981. ISBN: 0394514297. Oberg's book was, at its time, the most accurate, and still the most lively account of the Soviet manned program. More at amazon.com...
- Wilson, Keith T., Spaceflight, "EVA Log 1965-1997", 1998, Volume 40, page 85.
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
- NASA GSFC Orbital Parameters, .
- Agapov, V, Novosti kosmonavtiki, "Tablitsa zapuskov transportnikh gruzovikh korabley tipa 'Progress' i 'Progress M'", 1998, Issue 7, page 46.
|
