Mission type Mir crew transport SATCAT no. 23139 Spacecraft Soyuz 7K-STM No.68 Dates 1 Jul 1994 – 4 Nov 1994 Landing date 4 November 1994 | COSPAR ID 1994-036A Orbits completed 1,993 Period 1.5 hours Launch date 1 July 1994 Rocket Soyuz-U2 | |
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Mission duration 125 days, 22 hours, 53 minutes, 36 seconds Operator Roscosmos State Corporation Members Yuri Malenchenko, Talgat Musabayev | ||
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.
Contents
Soyuz TM-19 was the tenth expedition to the Russian Space Station Mir.
Mission highlights
Commander Malenchenko and Flight Engineer Musabayev, spaceflight rookies, were to have been launched with veteran cosmonaut Gennadi Strekalov, who would have returned to Earth with Viktor Afanaseyev and Yuri Usachyov in Soyuz-TM 18 after a few days on Mir. However, cancellation of one of two Progress-M cargo ships scheduled to resupply Mir during the Agat crew’s stay meant Strekalov’s couch had to carry supplies. The result was an unusual all-rookie flight. Docking occurred without incident on July 3. On November 3, Musabayev, Malenchenko, and Merbold undocked in Soyuz-TM 19 and backed 190 m from Mir. They then activated the Kurs automatic approach system, which successfully redocked the spacecraft. The cosmonauts then transferred back to Mir. The test was related to the difficulties Soyuz-TM 20 and Progress-M 24 experienced during their automatic approaches. Final undocking and reentry the following day occurred without incident.