Soyuz TM-13

Soyuz TM-13 was the 13th expedition to the Mir space station.[1] Lasting from October 1991 to March 1992, the mission included cosmonauts from Austria and the soon-to-be independent region of Kazakhstan, as the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991. The launch ceremony at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakh SSR was attended by the Soviet Premier Ivan Silaev, the President of the Kazakh SSR Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the Chancellor of Austria Franz Vranitzky. Before the launch, for the first time, President Nazarbayev received the launch report from cosmonaut Tokhtar Aubakirov in the Kazakh language.[2]

Soyuz TM-13
COSPAR ID1991-069A
SATCAT no.21735Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration175 days, 2 hours, 51 minutes, 44 seconds
Orbits completed~2,730
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-TM
ManufacturerNPO Energia
Launch mass7,150 kilograms (15,760 lb)
Crew
Crew size3
MembersAlexander Volkov
LaunchingToktar Aubakirov
Franz Viehböck
LandingSergei Krikalev
Klaus-Dietrich Flade
CallsignДонба́сс (Donbass)
Start of mission
Launch date2 October 1991, 05:59:38 (1991-10-02UTC05:59:38Z) UTC
RocketSoyuz-U2
Launch siteBaikonur Cosmodrome
End of mission
Landing date25 March 1992, 08:51:22 (1992-03-25UTC08:51:23Z) UTC
Landing sitenear Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude195 kilometres (121 mi)
Apogee altitude232 kilometres (144 mi)
Inclination51.7 degrees
Period92.4 minutes
Docking with Mir
Docking date4 October 1991, 07:38:42 UTC
Undocking date25 March 1992, 05:29:03 UTC
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 

Crew
Position Launching crew Landing crew
Commander Soviet Union/Russia Alexander Volkov
Third and last spaceflight
Research Cosmonaut/Flight Engineer Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic/Kazakhstan Toktar Aubakirov
Only spaceflight		 Soviet Union/Russia Sergei Krikalev
Second spaceflight
Research Cosmonaut Austria Franz Viehböck
Only spaceflight		 Germany Klaus-Dietrich Flade
Only spaceflight

Mission highlights

Soyuz-TM 13 carried commander Alexander Volkov along with Austrian cosmonaut-researcher Franz Viehböck and Soviet-Kazakh cosmonaut-researcher Toktar Aubakirov. The flight was unusual for carrying no flight engineer. Veteran Russian cosmonaut Alexandr Volkov commanded. The Austrians paid $7 million to fly Viehböck to Mir, and the Kazakh cosmonaut flew partly in an effort to encourage the then-Kazakh SSR to continue to permit launchings from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The cosmonaut-researchers photographed their respective countries from orbit and conducted the usual range of materials processing and medical experiments. Artsebarsky and Viehböck returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-12, with Volkov remaining on board Mir for an extended mission.

The Soyuz spent a total of 175 days docked to the Mir space station.

The Soyuz returned from Mir with German Klaus-Dietrich Flade and Krikalev and Volkov, dubbed by some as "the last citizens of the USSR" because they had launched from the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic within the USSR, and landed in what had since become the independent Republic of Kazakhstan.

Out of the Present, a 1995 film documentary focused on Soyuz TM-12 cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev's stay on Mir, features the arrival of Soyuz TM-13.

See also

Notes and references

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-tm13.htm
  2. "1991 год: как все начиналось | VOXPOPULI" (in Russian). 2012-11-29. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.