. SOYUZ TM10

Flight Crew

MANAKOV, Gennady Mikhailovich, 40, Soviet Air Force, commander STREKALOV, Gennady Mikhailovich, 49, civilian, flight engineer, 4th mission Previous missions: Soyuz T3 (1980), Soyuz T8 (1983), Soyuz T10-1 (1983); Soyuz T11 (1984)

Flight Log

The two Gennadys comprised the seventh Mir resident crew and were launched with four live Japanese quails for the Inkubator 2 experiment on board Mir. They would be used in “adaptation to weightlessness” experiments. During the two-day flight to Mir, one of the older quails “laid” an egg and this was returned to Earth with the TM9 crew. The TM10 spacecraft docked with the rear port of Kvant 1 on 3 August. Following the period of handover from the TM9 crew, which included a rather extensive review of where everything was stored, the new crew had a relatively quiet residency aboard the station. Their mission had been delayed ten days to allow the Mir-6 crew to complete their commissioning of systems aboard the Kristall module.

During their residency aboard Mir, Manakov and Strekalov had the primary engineering task of rewiring the base block’s power supply, as well as attempting to repair the Kvant 2 EVA hatch that had been damaged during the previous mission. They would also continue the wide programme of scientific work aboard the complex. After a long and frustrating wait, Strekalov finally achieved his goal of a long – duration mission, having previously flown to Salyut 6 and 7 on short visiting missions. He was also a hardened veteran space explorer, having been a crew member of the 1983 Soyuz T8 docking abort and the T10-1 launch pad abort. In boarding Mir, he became one of the first cosmonauts to visit three separate space stations. The only EVA of the mission had been planned for 19 October, but Strekalov developed a head cold, delaying it until 30 October. When the two cosmonauts inspected the damaged

hinge plate they were scheduled to replace, it was found to be deformed beyond repair. Instead, they installed a special latch to ensure that the hatch could be closed and used until fully repaired. With the repair task not deemed to be urgent, it was deferred to the next resident crew, who would fit a replacement unit. The EVA lasted 3 hours 45 minutes.

During this mission, the station was supplied by two Progress cargo craft. Progress M4 docked on 17 August, delivering power cables and TV equipment for the upcoming Japanese commercial mission. Before it was undocked, the crew attached a small experiment to the docking assembly, which was activated on 17 September when the ferry undocked. During station keeping, about 100 metres from Mir, artificial plasma was created around the Progress and this was filmed by the cosmonauts. Progress M5, which arrived on 29 September, carried more TV equipment for the Japanese mission. It also featured the first Raduga recoverable capsule system that could return about 150 kg of experiment material, the trade-off being a reduction in the cargo capacity of the vehicle. The Raduga capsule featured a truncated cone that would eject from the descending Orbital Module at about 120 km, just prior to the module’s fiery destruction in the atmosphere. At 15,000 metres, air pressure sensors successfully triggered the parachute deployment and Raduga was successfully retrieved. It returned 115 kg of payload.

The 7th expedition completed their mission on 10 December, returning to Earth in the TM10 capsule along with the first Japanese cosmonaut, TV journalist Toyohiro Akiyama, who had arrived with the 8th expedition crew in Soyuz TM11 on 4 December.

Milestones

134th manned space flight

69th Soviet/Russian manned space flight

62nd Soyuz manned space flight

9th Soyuz TM manned space flight

17th Soviet and 40th flight with EVA operations

7th Mir resident crew

1st use of the Raduga return capsule

Strekalov celebrates his 50th birthday in orbit (28 October)