COSPAR ID 1995-010A Spacecraft type Soyuz-TM Period 1.5 hours Dates 14 Mar 1995 – 11 Sep 1995 Launch date 14 March 1995 | Orbits completed ~2,940 Manufacturer RKK Energia Apogee 249,600 m Landing date 11 September 1995 Rocket Soyuz-U2 | |
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Mission duration 181 days, 41 minutes, 6 seconds Launch mass 7,170 kilograms (15,810 lb) Operator Roscosmos State Corporation | ||
Soyuz TM-21 was Soyuz mission, a human spaceflight mission transporting personnel to the Russian space station Mir. Part of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, the mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket, at 06:11:34 UTC on March 14, 1995. It is of note because its launch marked the presence, for the first time ever, of thirteen humans in space simultaneously - three aboard the Soyuz, three aboard Mir and seven aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, flying STS-67.
The spacecraft carried expedition EO-18 to the space station, including the first American astronaut to launch on a Soyuz spacecraft and board Mir, Norman Thagard, for the American Thagard Increment aboard the station, the first Increment of the Shuttle-Mir program. The three crew members it launched were relieved by Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-71, when they were replaced by expedition EO-19. The crew returned to earth aboard Soyuz TM-21 on September 11, 1995.