| Soyuz TM-5 | |||||
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| Mission insignia |
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| Mission statistics | |||||
| Mission name | Soyuz TM-5 | ||||
| Spacecraft mass | 7000 kg | ||||
| Crew size | 3 launched / 2 landed | ||||
| Call sign | Родни́к (Rodnik- Spring) | ||||
| Launch date | June 7, 1988 14:03:13 UTC[1] Gagarin's Start |
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| Landing | September 7, 1988 00:49:38 UTC[1] 202 km SE of Dzhezkazgan |
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| Mission duration | 91 days, 10 h, 46 min, 25 s[1] | ||||
| Number of orbits | ~1,475 | ||||
| Apogee | 241 km | ||||
| Perigee | 173 km | ||||
| Orbital period | 88.6 minutes | ||||
| Orbital inclination | ~51.6° | ||||
| Related missions | |||||
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Soyuz TM-5 the fifth manned spacecraft to visit the Russian Space Station Mir. It was launched on June 7, 1988, carrying the three person crew of the visiting mission Mir EP-2. This week-long stay on Mir occurred during the third long-duration Mir expedition, Mir EO-3. The crew of EP-2 returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-4, while the TM-5 spacecraft remained docked to Mir, acting as the lifeboat for the long-duration crew. On September 7, 1988, the TM-5 spacecraft undocked from Mir, and landed the two person visiting crew of Mir EP-3, who had arrived at the station about a week earlier.
Contents |
| Position | Launching Crew | Landing Crew |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Anatoly Solovyev Mir EP-2 First spaceflight |
Vladimir Lyakhov Mir EP-3 Third spaceflight |
| Flight Engineer | Viktor Savinykh Mir EP-2 Third spaceflight |
None |
| Research Cosmonaut | Aleksandr Aleksandrov Mir EP-2 First spaceflight |
Abdul Mohmand Mir EP-3 First spaceflight |
| Aleksandrov was the first Bulgarian cosmonaut to visit a space station. Mohmand was the first Afghan cosmonaut. | ||
Soyuz TM-5 launched on 1988 June 7 and arrived at Mir on June 9 carrying the second Bulgarian in space, Alexandrov (not to be confused with the Soviet cosmonaut of the same name). He became the first Bulgarian to reach a Soviet space station (Georgi Ivanov failed to reach Salyut 6 on Soyuz 33 in 1979—Alexandrov was his backup). Their launch had been advanced by 2 weeks late in the planning stages to improve lighting conditions for the Rozhen astronomical experiment.
On September 5 cosmonauts Lyakhov and Mohmand undocked from Mir. They jettisoned the orbital module and made ready for deorbit burn to return to Earth. During descent, the spacecraft experienced a computer software problem combined with a sensor problem.[2] This caused their landing to be delayed by a full day. The Descent Module, where they spent this 24 hour period, had no sanitary facilities.[3] They would not have been able to redock with Mir because they had discarded the docking system along with the orbital module.[3] Reentry occurred as normal on September 7. Following this incident, the Soviets decided that on future missions, they would retain the orbital module until after deorbit burn, as they had done on the Soyuz Ferry flights.[3]
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