Soyuz TM-5

Soyuz TM-5 was the fifth cosmonaut-carrying spacecraft to visit the Russian Space Station Mir. It was launched on June 7, 1988, carrying the Mir EP-2 mission's three-person crew. This week-long stay on Mir occurred during the third long-duration Mir expedition, Mir EO-3. The crew of EP-2 returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-4, while the TM-5 spacecraft remained docked to Mir, acting as the lifeboat for the long-duration crew. On September 7, 1988, the TM-5 spacecraft undocked from Mir, and landed Mir EP-3 mission's two-person visiting crew. The de-orbit procedures for Soyuz were revised after this flight, as multiple issues almost prevented the descent module's safe de-orbit and landing.

This article is about the spacecraft. For the expedition which it launched, see Mir EP-2.

Soyuz TM-5

COSPAR ID	1988-048A
SATCAT no.	19204
Mission duration	91 days, 10 hours, 46 minutes, 25 seconds[1]
Orbits completed	~1,475
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-TM
Manufacturer	NPO Energia
Launch mass	7,000 kilograms (15,000 lb)
Crew
Crew size	3 up 2 down
Launching	Anatoly Solovyev Viktor Savinykh Aleksandr Aleksandrov
Landing	Vladimir Lyakhov Abdul Ahad Mohmand
Callsign	Родни́к (Rodnik- Spring)
Start of mission
Launch date	June 7, 1988, 14:03:13 (1988-06-07UTC14:03:13Z) UTC[1]
Rocket	Soyuz-U2
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date	September 7, 1988, 00:49:38 (1988-09-07UTC00:49:39Z) UTC
Landing site	202 kilometres (126 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	173 kilometres (107 mi)
Apogee altitude	241 kilometres (150 mi)
Inclination	~51.6 degrees
Period	88.6 minutes
Docking with Mir
Soyuz programme (Crewed missions)

Crew

Position	Launching crew	Landing crew
Commander	Anatoly Solovyev Mir EP-2 First spaceflight	Vladimir Lyakhov Mir EP-3 Third and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Viktor Savinykh Mir EP-2 Third and last spaceflight	None
Research Cosmonaut	Aleksandr Aleksandrov Mir EP-2 Only spaceflight	Abdul Ahad Mohmand Mir EP-3 Only spaceflight
Aleksandrov was the first Bulgarian cosmonaut to visit a space station. Mohmand was the first Afghan cosmonaut.

Launch

Main article: Mir EP-2

Soyuz TM-5 launched on 1988 June 7 and arrived at Mir on June 9 carrying the second Bulgarian in space, Alexandrov (not to be confused with the Soviet cosmonaut of the same name). He became the first Bulgarian to reach a Soviet space station (Georgi Ivanov failed to reach Salyut 6 on Soyuz 33 in 1979—Alexandrov was his backup). Their launch had been advanced by 2 weeks late in the planning stages to improve lighting conditions for the Rozhen astronomical experiment.

Landing

Main article: Mir EP-3

On September 5 cosmonauts Lyakhov and Mohmand undocked from Mir. They jettisoned the orbital module and made ready for deorbit burn to return to Earth. During descent, the spacecraft experienced a computer software problem combined with a sensor problem.[2] This caused their landing to be delayed by a full day. The Descent Module, where they spent this 24-hour period, had no sanitary facilities. Consequently, they soiled themselves. [3] They would not have been able to redock with Mir because they had discarded the docking system along with the orbital module.[3] Reentry occurred as normal on September 7. Following this incident, the Soviets decided that on future missions, they would retain the orbital module until after deorbit burn, as they had done on the Soyuz Ferry flights.[3]

References

1. "Spacecraft "Soyuz TM-5"". space.kursknet. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
2. David Michael Harland (February 2005). The story of Space Station Mir. Springer-Verlag. pp. 173. ISBN 0-387-23011-4.
3. D.S.F. Portree. "Mir Hardware Heritage" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2010.