COSPAR ID 1987-013A Spacecraft type Soyuz-TM Dates 5 Feb 1987 – 30 Jul 1987 Member Aleksandr Laveykin Rocket Soyuz-U2 | Orbits completed ~2,810 Manufacturer NPO Energia Launch date 5 February 1987 Landing date 30 July 1987 Launch site Baikonur Cosmodrome | |
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Mission duration 174 days, 3 hours, 25 minutes, 56 seconds Launch mass 7,100 kilograms (15,700 lb) Landing crew Aleksandr Viktorenko, Muhammed Faris | ||
Soyuz TM-2 was the spacecraft used to launch a long duration crew to the Soviet space station Mir, which was unmanned at the time. TM-2 was launched in February 1987, and it was first manned spaceflight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, and the second manned spaceflight to Mir (the first being Soyuz T-15). The crew of the long duration expedition, Mir EO-2, who were launched by TM-2 consisted of Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Aleksandr Laveykin.
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The spacecraft remained docked to Mir, functioning as a lifeboat for the EO-2 crew, until July 1987 when it returned to Earth carrying Laveykin and the two man crew of Mir EP-1. Romanenko later returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-3 at the end of EO-2.
Mission parameters
Mission highlights
Early in the expedition EO-2, the module Kvant-1 was launched to automatically dock with Mir. The docking system, known as the "Igla system", was not behaving as expected. On April 5 the EO-2 crew retreated to the Soyuz TM-2 spacecraft so that they could escape in the event the module got out of control. About 200 m out, the docking system lost its lock on Mir’s aft port antenna. The cosmonauts watched from within Soyuz-TM 2 as the Kvant/ FSM combination passed within 10 m of the station. Following an emergency spacewalk, Kvant fully docked to the station on April 11.