 | Toru Credit - © Mark Wade
| 10 February 1997 14:09 GMT. Landing Date: 1997-08-14 12:16:58. Flight Time: 184.92 days. Alternate Name: Soyuz TM-25 (Lazutkin, Tsibliyev). Flight Up: Soyuz TM-25. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-25. Call Sign: Sirius (Sirius ). Crew: Lazutkin, Tsibliyev. Backup Crew: Musabayev, Budarin. Program: Mir. Mir Expedition EO-23. Soyuz TM-25 docked with Mir at the forward port on February 12 at 15:51:13 GMT. Following a mission that seemed to consist of an endless series of collisions, breakdowns, fires, and other emergencies, the EO-23 handed over the station and on August 14 entered Soyuz TM-25 landed in Kazakstan at 12:17 UTC, 170 km SE of Dzezkazgan. The Soyuz landing rockets failed to fire on touchdown, giving one of the roughest landings experienced by a returning Mir crew. RKK Energiya's 7K-STM spacecraft No. 74 was launched as Soyuz TM-25. On Feb 11 the orbit was 262 x 311 km x 51.65 deg, while Mir was in a 378 x 394 km x 51.65 deg orbit. The Soyuz carried the EO-23 Mir crew together with German astronaut Reinhold Ewald. After several rendezvous burns, the Soyuz docked with Mir at the -X port on Feb 12 at 15:51:13 GMT. The subsequent disaster-filled six month mission included on-board fires, power losses, oxygen system problems, thermal control problems, station control system failures, cabin depressurizations, and the collision of the Progress 24 with the station.
The EO-23 crew’s problems began on Feb 23 at 19:35 GMT when a fire broke out in a lithium perchlorate cartridge in the Kvant module used to generate extra oxygen on Mir. The fire lasted 14 minutes and metre-long flames of burning lithium perchlorate in the Kvant module blocked the way to one of the two Soyuz spaceships. EO-22 crew members Korzun and Kaleri used extinguishers to fight the fire; the crew wore gas masks for two and a half hours afterwards due to the heavy smoke in the station. This was followed in March by continuous problems with the various oxygen-generating, station control, and thermal control systems.
The carbon dioxide removal system failed on April 3. The Progress M-34 supply ship brought much-needed repair equipment for the oxygen systems in the second week of April. Vasiliy Tsibliev and visiting American astronaut Jerry Linenger donned Orlan-DM spacesuits and made a 4h 57m spacewalk on April 29. They left the airlock at 05:10 GMT and returned to Kvant-2 at 10:08 GMT. The astronauts retrieved some sample collection experiments from the outside of the complex. Flight engineer Aleksandr Lazutkin remained inside the Mir complex.
The robot cargo ship Progress M-34 undocked from Mir at 1022 GMT on June 24 to perform a redocking test using recently developed remote-control procedures which are replacing the old automatic systems that Russia can no longer afford to buy from Ukraine. At 09:10 GMT on June 25, Mir commander Tsibliev was remotely commanding the approach of Progress to the Kvant (37KE) module when the Progress went off course and collided with a solar array on the Spektr module and then the module itself. A large hole was made in the solar panel, and one of Spektr's radiators was badly buckled. A small breach in Spektr's hull appears to have been made and the module began to depressurize. This was not a slow leak - the crew heard a hissing sound and felt their ears pop. They closed the hatch on the core module transfer section that leads to Spektr by 09:38 GMT. The Spektr module was thereafter fully depressurized. It remains docked to Mir with its docking hatch open. The electrical connection between Spektr's solar panels and the main station was broken off, also cutting off the power supply from the solar panels on the Kristall module. Tsibliev was also driving on the only previous documented orbital fender-bender, when he banged Soyuz TM-17 into Mir in January 1994.
Mir lost power and attitude control on July 16 when a cable was accidentally disconnected, but the crew were able to use the Soyuz to reorient the station and restore the situation. The spacewalk to reconnect the Spektr power cables was delayed until the next Soyuz launch. This was reoriented to concentrate on repairing the station and getting it back into operation. Researcher Leopold Eyharts of France's CNES was bumped from the crew and rescheduled for a 1998 flight. The EO-23 handed over the station and on August 14 entered their Soyuz TM-25 transport ship, closing the hatches at 05:50 GMT. Soyuz TM-25 undocked from the Mir forward port on August 14 at 08:55 GMT and at 11:22 GMT fired the deorbit engine on the PAO (priborno-agregatniy otsek, equipment-service module). The PAO and the BO (bitovoy otsek, living module) separated from the SA (spuskaemiy apparat, descent craft) a few minutes later. The PAO and BO burned up in the atmosphere. The SA reentered, and landed in Kazakhstan at 12:17 GMT, 170 km SE of Dzhezkazgan. The Soyuz landing rockets failed to fire on touchdown, giving one of the roughest landings experienced by a returning Mir crew. Mir EO-23 Chronology
- 1997 Apr 6 - Progress M-34 Spacecraft: Progress M. Payload: Progress M s/n 234. Mass: 7,156 kg (15,776 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 86.60 days. Perigee: 375 km (233 mi). Apogee: 393 km (244 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 92.20 min.
Unmanned resupply vessel to Mir. It carried supplies for the Mir station and repair equipment for Mir's oxygen generators, replacement oxygen-generating 'candles' and a pair of new spacesuits. Docked with Mir at the rear Kvant module port on 8 Apr 1997 17:30:03 GMT. The Mir complex raised its orbit by 5 km on 15 Apr 1997 at 12:00 GMT, using Progress M-34's engine. Undocked on 24 Jun 1997 10:22:50 GMT. It was then used to perform a redocking test using newly developed remote-control procedures which were to replace the automatic system that Russia could no longer afford to buy from Ukraine. At 25 Jun 1997 09:18 GMT Mir commander Tsibliev was remotely commanding the approach of Progress to the Kvant module. This involved guiding the Progress via a television monitor. The Progress was difficult to see against the cloudy earth background at the time of the attempted docking. It went off course and collided with a solar array on the Spektr module and then the module itself. A large hole was made in a solar panel, one of the radiators was buckled, a hole was punched into Spektr's hull, and the module began to depressurize. This was not a slow leak - the crew heard a hissing sound and felt their ears pop. They disconnected the power cables leading from Mir to the main station and closed the hatch on the core module transfer section that led to Spektr. The Spektr module became fully depressurized, remaining docked to Mir with its docking hatch open. The loss of electrical connection between Spektr's solar panels and the main station cut the available power supply to the station, crippling its operations until later repairs reconnected the electrical lines. Tsibliev was also the pilot on a previous orbital collision, when he banged Soyuz TM-17 into Mir in Jan 1994. After the return of the crew to earth he was found to be to blame for the incident, although the fines assessed were later dismissed. The Progress M-34 cargo ship was backed to a safe distance from the station and was destroyed in reentry on 2 Jul 1997 06:31:50 GMT. Total free-flight time 9.90 days. Total docked time 76.70 days.
- 1997 May 15 - STS-84 Crew: Precourt, Collins Eileen, Clervoy, Lu, Noriega, Kondakova, Foale. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Payload: Atlantis F19 / Spacehab Double Module. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 9.22 days. Perigee: 377 km (234 mi). Apogee: 393 km (244 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 92.30 min.
Atlantis blasted off on a night launch to Mir, docking with the station on May 17 at 02:33 GMT. Jerry Linenger, who had begun his stay on Mir in mid-January aboard STS-81, would return aboard STS-84. Michael Foale would be left at the station for his stint as the American crew member of Mir. The crew transfered to Mir 466 kg of water, 383 kg of U.S. science equipment, 1,251 kg of Russian equipment and supplies, and 178 kg of miscellaneous material. Returned to Earth aboard Atlantis were 406 kg of U.S. science material, 531 kg of Russian logistics material, 14 kg of ESA material and 171 kg of miscellaneous material. Atlantis undocked from Mir at 01:04 GMT on May 22. After passing up its first landing opportunity due to clouds over the landing site, the Shuttle fired its OMS engines on the deorbit burn at 12:33 GMT on May 24. Atlantis landed at 13:27 GMT at Kennedy Space Center's runway 33.
- 1997 May 24 - Landing of STS-84
STS-84 landed at 13:27 GMT with the crew of Precourt, Collins Eileen, Clervoy, Lu, Noriega, Kondakova and Linenger aboard.
- 1997 Aug 14 - Landing of Soyuz TM-25
Following a mission that seemed to consist of an endless series of collisions, breakdowns, fires, and other emergencies, the EO-23 crew handed over the station to EO-24 and on August 14 entered Soyuz TM-25 landed in Kazakstan at 12:17 UTC, 170 km SE of Dzezkazgan. The Soyuz landing rockets failed to fire on touchdown, giving one of the roughest landings experienced by a returning Mir crew.
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...
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Report (Internet Newsletter), Harvard University, Weekly, 1989 to Present. Essential internet newsletter recording worldwide weekly space events. Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
- Wilson, Keith T., Spaceflight, "EVA Log 1965-1997", 1998, Volume 40, page 85.
- Agapov, V, Novosti kosmonavtiki, "Tablitsa zapuskov transportnikh gruzovikh korabley tipa 'Progress' i 'Progress M'", 1998, Issue 7, page 46.
- NASA GSFC Orbital Parameters, .
|