Soyuz TM-21

Mission emblem
Mission dates
Mission:	Soyuz TM-21
COSPAR-ID :	1995-010A
Spacecraft:	Soyuz 7K-ST ( GRAY index  11F732) serial number 70
Dimensions:	7150 kg
Launcher:	Soyuz U2 (GRAY index 11A511U2)
Call sign:	Урага́н (Uragan - " hurricane ")
Crew:	3
Begin:	March 14, 1995, 06:11:34  UTC
Starting place:	Baikonur 1/5
Space station:	Me
Coupling:	March 16, 1995, 07:45:25 UTC
Decoupling:	September 11, 1995, 3:30:44 UTC
Landing:	September 11, 1995, 06:52:40 UTC
Landing place:	108 km of NO Arkalik 50 ° 40 '  N , 68 ° 15'  O
Flight duration:	181d 0h 41min 6s
Earth orbits:	2940
Rotation time :	88.7 min
Apogee :	247 km
Perigee :	201 km
◄ Before / After ►
Soyuz TM-20 (manned) Soyuz TM-22 (manned)

Soyuz TM-21 is the mission name for the flight of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the Russian Mir space station . It was the 21st visit by a Soyuz spacecraft to the Mir space station and the 97th flight in the Russian Soyuz program.

crew

Starting crew

• Vladimir Nikolayevich Deschurow (1st space flight), commander
• Gennady Michailowitsch Strekalow (5th space flight), flight engineer
• Norman Earl Thagard (5th space flight), Science Astronaut ( NASA / United States )  

With this flight, Strekalov was the second cosmonaut after Vladimir Dschanibekov to reach the Soviet / Russian record of five space flights. It was also the first time a NASA astronaut flew aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.

Substitute team

• Anatoly Jakowlewitsch Solowjow , Commander
• Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin , flight engineer
• Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar , Science Astronaut ( NASA / United States )  

Return team

• Anatoly Jakowlewitsch Solowjow (4th space flight), commander
• Nikolai Michailowitsch Budarin (1st space flight), flight engineer

Mission overview

After the launch in Baikonur, the coupling to the Mir space station and the handover of the station by the 17th regular crew, the three cosmonauts formed the 18th Mir regular crew, with Thagard also being the first American on board the Mir. During the mission were some spacewalks of Dezhurov and Strekalov performed. So on May 12th (6h 14min), May 17th (6h 41min), May 22nd (5h 14min), May 28 (0h 21min) and June 1, 1995 (0h 22min) to carry out renovation work on the space station ( Installation of solar cells and change of position of the crystal module on the coupling nozzle), whereby there were some technical problems. During the mission also the arrival and coupling of the spectral module took place . Some medical research was also carried out during the mission. All three cosmonauts returned to Earth on the STS-71 space shuttle, which was docked during the mission .

See also

• List of manned space flights
• List of Mir expeditions

Web links

• Soyuz TM-21 at spacefacts.de
• Soyuz TM-21 at space.kursknet.ru (English / Russian , archived 2016)
• Soyuz TM-21 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
• Soyuz TM-21 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)