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Faris Viktorenko

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Soyuz TM-3 Credit - © Thanassis Vembos Media Gallery

22 July 1987 01:59 GMT. Landing Date: 1987-07-30 01:04:00. Flight Time: 7.96 days. Alternate Name: Soyuz TM-3 (Faris, Viktorenko). Flight Up: Soyuz TM-3. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-2. Call Sign: Vityaz (Knight ). Crew: Faris, Viktorenko. Backup Crew: Munir, Solovyov. Program: Mir.

Of note: First Syrian astronaut. The first visting crew to the Mir orbital space station was a Soviet-Syrian contingent comprising cosmonauts A S Viktorenko, A P Aleksandrov and M A Faris. After launch the TM-3 maneuvered from an initial 231 X 217 km orbit to Mir's 311 X 359 km orbit and docked with the rear Mir port at 3:30 GMT 24 July. Following joint experiments, Faris and Viktorenko returned to earth aboard Soyuz TM-2 together with ailing EO-2 crewman Laveykin. They lift their fresh Soyuz TM-3 spacecraft at Mir as a lifeboat together with Aleksandrov, who made up the EO-3 crew with Romanenko.

Narrative (adapted from D S F Portree's Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, 1995)

Soyuz TM-3 arrived at the station and docked to the aft Kvant port. It would remained docked to the station from July 22-December 29, 1987. The Visiting Expedition observed Syria and conducted materials processing experiments. Syrian guest cosmonaut Mohammed Faris and Soviet cosmonaut Alexandr Viktorenko returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-2 with Alexandr Laveykin, who was diagnosed by ground-based doctors as having minor heart problems. He was replaced by Alexandr Alexandrov, who had arrived aboard Soyuz TM-3.

• 1987 Jul 22 - Soyuz TM-3  Crew: Aleksandrov, Faris, Viktorenko. Spacecraft: Soyuz TM. Payload: Soyuz TM 11F732 s/n 53. Mass: 7,100 kg (15,600 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U2. Duration: 160.30 days. Perigee: 297 km (184 mi). Apogee: 353 km (219 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.00 min.

  Manned three crew. Transported to the Mir orbital space station a Soviet-Syrian crew comprising cosmonauts A S Viktorenko, A P Aleksandrov and M A Faris to conduct joint research and experiments with cosmonauts Y Romanenko and A Laveykin. Maneuvered from initial 231 X 217 km orbit to Mir's 311 X 359 km orbit. Docked with rear Mir port at 3:30 GMT 24 July. Undocked with rear port 30 July and docked to forward port.

• 1987 Jul 30 - Landing of Soyuz TM-2 

  Undocked from Mir at 8:34 GMT on 29 July. The Orbital Module was jettisoned before retrofire and left in a 308 X 356 orbit. Soyuz TM-2 landed at 01:05 GMT with the crew of Faris, Laveykin and Viktorenko aboard.

• USAF Satellite Database, USAF Institute of Technology, 1995. Accessed at: ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/.

• 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.

• JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Accessed at: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.

• 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...