. SOYUZ TM15

Flight Crew

SOLOVYOV, Anatoly Yakovlevich, 44, Russian Air Force, commander,

3rd mission

Previous missions: Soyuz TM5 (1988); Soyuz TM9 (1990)

AVDEYEV, Sergei Vasilyevich, 36, civilian, flight engineer

TOGNINI, Michel Ange Charles, 42, French Air Force, cosmonaut researcher

Flight Log

The Kurs system failed once again during the automated docking approach of Soyuz TM15 to Mir, forcing commander Solovyov to conduct a manual docking. During Tognini’s twelve days on Mir, a programme of ten experiments were com­pleted, encompassing medical and technological experiments under the French Antares programme. This was the third French flight to a space station, but the first commercial one. The earlier flights had proven so productive that CNES had arranged a series of missions every two years, building up a valuable database of orbital operations experience that could be applied to future programmes, such as the Freedom Space Station or dedicated French Shuttle/Spacelab missions that were under consideration (but which did not materialise). Tognini would return with the EO-11 crew in TM14.

The two Russian cosmonauts continued the rotation of resident crew teams on Mir, operating the onboard instruments during their work shifts, and ensuring that some would continue to operate autonomously while they were busy doing other things or were sleeping. Progress M14 docked on 18 August and its cargo included a 700 kg Vynosnaya Dvigatyelnaya Ustanovka (Outer Engine Unit), which was located in place of the tanker unit on the supply vessel. After it was automatically unloaded by commands from the ground on 2 September, the cosmonauts’ task would be to install

it on top of the Sofora girder that was mounted on Kvant. This new unit would improve the attitude control capabilities of the complex. The cosmonauts’ first excursion (3 September, 3 hours 56 minutes) saw them relocate the VDU unit from Progress to the worksite and prepare the girder for accepting the device. Four days later, the crew were back at the worksite (7 September, 5 hours 8 minutes) and bent the Sofora girder at a hinge point, one-third of the way down its length, to make the area where the unit would be placed more accessible. They fitted a communications cable along the girder and also took the opportunity to remove the USSR flag (or what was left of it after orbital debris and UV deterioration had taken their toll) that had been deployed the previous year. Four days later, the crew went outside for their third EVA (11 September, 5 hours 44 minutes) to attach the VDU atop the Sofora girder, which they then straightened to its full length. The final EVA of this residency (15 September, 3 hours 33 minutes) saw the cosmonauts relocate the Kurs antenna to the Kristall module. This would enable the next crew to arrive (aboard Soyuz TM16) to dock there, as the Progress M15 spacecraft would still be attached at the aft port when the new crew arrived. Solovyov and Avdeyev also took the opportunity to remove solar cells and material samples from the exterior of the station for return to Earth.

Towards the end of their residency, the crew used the base block airlock to eject a 16.5 kg satellite, called MAK-2, which would study the characteristics of the iono­sphere. On 8 November, there was a “near miss” when the 55 kg Cosmos 1508 satellite (launched in 1983) passed within 300 metres of Mir. The end of the Progress M14 mission also saw the return of the fifth Raduga (Rainbow) payload recovery system, carrying approximately 150 kg of samples from Mir back to Earth.

Milestones

152nd manned space flight

74th Russian manned space flight

22nd Russian and 47th flight with EVA operations

15th Soyuz flight to Mir

12th main Mir crew

10th visiting crew (Tognini)

67th Soyuz manned mission 14th Soyuz TM manned mission Avdeyev celebrates his 37th birthday in space (1 Jan) Solovyov celebrates his 45th birthday in space (16 Jan)