COSPAR ID 1991-069A Spacecraft type Soyuz-TM Period 1.5 hours Dates 2 Oct 1991 – 25 Mar 1992 Landing date 25 March 1992 | Orbits completed ~2,730 Manufacturer NPO Energia Apogee 232,000 m Launch date 2 October 1991 | |
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Mission duration 175 days, 2 hours, 51 minutes, 44 seconds Launch mass 7,150 kilograms (15,760 lb) Member Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Volkov | ||
Soyuz TM-13 was the 13th expedition to Mir space station. It included cosmonauts from Austria and the soon-to-be independent region of Kazakhstan.
Mission highlights
Soyuz-TM 13 carried commander Alexander Volkov along with Austrian cosmonaut-researcher Franz Viehböck and still Soviet-Kazakh cosmonaut-researcher Toktar Aubakirov. The flight was unusual for carrying no flight engineer. Veteran Russian cosmonaut Alexandr Volkov commanded. The Austrians paid $7 million to fly Viehböck to Mir, and the Kazakh cosmonaut flew partly in an effort to encourage Kazakhstan to continue to permit launchings from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The cosmonaut-researchers photographed their respective countries from orbit and conducted the usual range of materials processing and medical experiments. Artsebarsky and Viehböck returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-12, with Volkov remaining on board Mir for an extended mission.
The Soyuz spent a total of 175 days docked to the Mir space station.
The Soyuz returned from the Mir with Volkov along with cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Alexandr Volkov, aka "the last Citizens of the USSR", who had launched from the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic within the USSR, and landed in the independent Republic of Kazakhstan.