Me-Antares

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Mission emblem
Mission emblem
Mission dates
Mission: Me-Antares
Crew: 1
Begin: July 27, 1992, 06:08:42  UTC
Starting place: Baikonur 1/5
Departure in: Soyuz TM-15
Space station: Me
Coupling: July 29, 1992, 07:46 UTC
Decoupling: August 9, 1992, 21:46:47 UTC
Return flight in: Soyuz TM-14
Landing: August 10, 1992, 01:05:02 UTC
Flight duration: 13d 18h ​​56min
◄ Before / After ►
Mir-Aragatz Mir-Altair

Mir-Antares was the name of a Franco-Russian research mission during which the French spaceman Michel Tognini was on board the Russian Mir space station for two weeks .

preparation

The basis for this mission was a contract dated December 22, 1989 between the French space agency CNES , its Soviet counterpart RKA and the construction company RKK Energija . After Jean-Loup Chrétien's two space flights in 1982 and 1988, it was the third time that a Frenchman made a short stay on board a Soviet space station .

The project was named after Antares , the main star of Scorpio .

Michel Tognini was selected as the crew , his substitute was Jean-Pierre Haigneré . From January 5, 1991, the two prepared for their mission in the Yuri Gagarin cosmonaut training center near Moscow.

scientific programme

Ten experiments were carried out on board the Mir. Some of them were designed to be continued in future missions.

Life science

  • ORTHOSTATISM : This experiment looked at the changes in blood, saliva and urine during and after a space flight.
  • VIMINAL : The examinations of perception and movement in weightlessness that were started at Mir-Aragatz were continued.
  • ILLUSIONS : Here, the adaptation of the sensory organs to space conditions was examined.
  • NAUSICAA : In this experiment, the composition of cosmic rays was measured in the various modules of the space station.
  • BIODOSE : This experiment examined the biological effects of cosmic rays on space travelers.
  • IMMUNOLOGY : This experiment examined immunity during a space flight based on blood samples before and after the flight.

Materials science

  • ALICE (Analysis des Liquides Critiques dans l'Espace - Analysis of critical liquids in space) : hydrodynamic and thermal studies of liquids in the vicinity of the critical point .
  • SUPRACONDUCTEUR : Investigation of high temperature superconductors in weightlessness.

technology

  • EXEQ : This experiment investigated the influence of radiation from heavy ions on VLSI components ( microprocessors , SRAM memories and EEPROMs ). The investigations were carried out up to the Mir-Altair mission .
  • MICROACCELEROMETRE : This device determined the distribution of microgravity within the space station, as well as the effects of various systems on gravity very precisely.

Mission history

When the space flight began on July 27, 1992, the Soviet Union had disintegrated and the Baikonur Cosmodrome was in the now independent Kazakhstan .

In addition to Tognini, the Mir's new crew was on board the Soyuz TM-15 spacecraft : Commander Anatoli Solowjow and flight engineer Sergei Avdejew . After two days of flight, the three cosmonauts docked at the front coupling port of the Mir space station, where they were greeted by the previous crew, Alexander Wiktorenko and Alexander Kaleri .

The scientific program was carried out over the next twelve days. 300 kg of equipment had previously been brought to me by Progress freighters.

Tognini returned to Earth with Viktorenko and Kaleri on board the Soyuz TM-14 spacecraft . The landing took place six kilometers from the calculated point, but the landing capsule came to rest upside down, so that it first had to be turned by the rescue team before the three cosmonauts could disembark.

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