Soyuz TM-4
| COSPAR ID | 1987-104A |
|---|---|
| Mission duration | 178 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes, 29 seconds |
| Orbits completed | ~2,890 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz-TM |
| Manufacturer | NPO Energia |
| Launch mass | 7,070 kilograms (15,590 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 |
| Launching |
Vladimir Titov Musa Manarov Anatoli Levchenko |
| Landing |
Anatoly Solovyev Viktor Savinykh Aleksandr Aleksandrov |
| Callsign | Okean (Ocean) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | December 21, 1987, 11:18:03 UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz-U2 |
| Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | June 17, 1988, 10:12:32 UTC |
| Landing site | 180 kilometres (110 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee | 337 kilometres (209 mi) |
| Apogee | 357 kilometres (222 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Period | 91.5 minutes |
| Docking with Mir | |
|
Soyuz programme
(Manned missions) |
|
Soyuz TM-4 was the fourth manned spacecraft to dock with the space station Mir. It was launched in December 1987, and carried the first two crew members of the third long duration expedition, Mir EO-3. These crew members, Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov, would stay in space for just under 366 days, setting a new spaceflight record. The third astronaut launched by Soyuz TM-4 was Anatoli Levchenko, who returned to Earth about a week later with the remaining crew of Mir EO-2. Levchenko was a prospective pilot for the Soviet Space shuttle Buran. The purpose of his mission, named Mir LII-1, was to familiarize him with spaceflight.
It was the fourth Soyuz TM spacecraft to be launched (one of which wasn't manned), and like other Soyuz spacecraft, it was treated as a lifeboat for the station's crew while docked. In June 1988, part way through EO-3, Soyuz TM-4 was swapped for Soyuz TM-5 as the station's lifeboat. The mission which swapped the spacecraft was known as Mir EP-2, and had a three-person crew.
Titov and Manarov were members of the long duration mission Mir EO-3, and returned to Earth just over a full year later, in Soyuz TM-6. Levchenko, on the other hand, returned to Earth about a week later in Soyuz TM-3.
In June 1988, Soyuz TM-4 landed the three-man crew of Mir EP-2, after their 9-day stay on the station; that crew included the second Bulgarian astronaut Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov.
4th manned spaceflight to Mir. Manarov and Titov (know by their callsign as the "Okeans") replaced Romanenko and Alexandrov. Anatoli Levchenko was a cosmonaut in the Buran shuttle program. Levchenko returned with Romanenko and Alexandrov in Soyuz TM-3.
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Wikipedia