COSPAR ID 1990-067A Spacecraft type Soyuz-TM Period 1.5 hours Dates 1 Aug 1990 – 10 Dec 1990 Landing date 10 December 1990 | Orbits completed ~2,125 Manufacturer NPO Energia Apogee 219,000 m Launch date 1 August 1990 Rocket Soyuz-U2 | |
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Mission duration 130 days, 20 hours, 35 minutes, 51 seconds Launch mass 7,150 kilograms (15,760 lb) Members Gennadi Manakov, Gennadi Strekalov | ||
The Soyuz-TM crew transports (T - транспортный - Transportnyi - meaning transport, M - модифицированный - Modifitsirovannyi - meaning modified) were fourth generation (1986–2002) Soyuz spacecraft used for ferry flights to the Mir and ISS space stations. It added to the Soyuz-T new docking and rendezvous, radio communications, emergency and integrated parachute/landing engine systems. The new Kurs rendezvous and docking system permitted the Soyuz-TM to maneuver independently of the station, without the station making "mirror image" maneuvers to match unwanted translations introduced by earlier models' aft-mounted attitude control.
Soyuz TM-10 was the tenth expedition to the Russian Space Station Mir.
Mission highlights
TM-10 marked the return to earth of Japanese reporter Toyohiro Akiyama.
The Soyuz arrived at Mir's aft port with four passengers: quail for cages in Kvant-2. A quail had laid an egg en route to the station. It was returned to Earth, along with 130 kg of experiment results and industrial products, in Soyuz TM-9. The spacecraft landed without incident.
It spent 131 days attached to Mir. A camera was installed in the descent module as part of the agreement with Akiyama’s network to film the reactions of the returning cosmonauts.