Soyuz TM-21

Launch & orbit data: Designation  23519 / 95010A Launch date - time  14 Mar 1995 - 06:11:34 UT Launch site  Baikonur, LC1 Launch vehicle  Soyuz 11A511U2 OKB name - S/Nº  Soyuz 7K-STM (11F732) s/nº 70 Mass (kg)  7.150 Flight Crew  Dezhurov, Vladimir (CDR) Strekalov, Gennadi (FE) Thagard, Norman (CR) Call Sign  Uragan (Hurricane) Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee  392 x 398 km    - Inclination  51.64 deg    - Period  92.46 min

Docking & landing data: Docking date - time  16 Mar 1995 - 07:45:25 UT Target spacecraft/port  Mir/Kvant Undocking date - time  11 Sep 1995 - 03:30:44 UT Deorbit burn date - time  11 Sep 1995 - 05:56:40 UT Landing date - time  11 Sep 1995 - 06:52:40 UT Landing location  50° 31'N, 67° 21'E Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  181.03 days Nbr orbits   Landing crew  Solovyov A., Budarin N.  (crew STS-71)

Launch Crew (EO-18):

Backup Crew

The prime and backup crews for the first U.S. long-duration mission Soyuz TM-21 crew since the Skylab era. Front row (from left) are N.Thagard, V.Dezhurov and G.Strekalov. Back row (from left) are N.Budarin, B.Dunbar and A.Solovyov. Photo Credit: NASA

Mission details:

• Mir Expedition EO-18. Soyuz TM-21 carried the EO-18 Mir crew and American Norman Thagard. Thagard was the first American to be launched in a Soyuz. Soyuz docked with Mir at 07:45:26 GMT on March 16 . On July 4 Soyuz TM-21 undocked and backed off to a distance of 100 m from Mir. The US space shuttle Atlantis, with the EO-18 crew aboard, then undocked and began a flyaround at a distance of 210 m, while the EO-19 crew aboard Soyuz took pictures before redocking with the station. Soyuz TM-21 again undocked with the EO-19 crew on September 11 from the Kvant rear port on Mir and landed at 50 deg 41'N 68 deg 15'E, 108 km northeast of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan, at 06:52:40 GMT .
• Orbit insertion and separation of the 7170 kg spaceship from the Blok-I third stage was at 06:20:23. Soyuz TM-21 entered an 88.61 min, 190 x 220 km x 51.65 deg orbit. Two burns at 09:46 and 10:45 GMT raised the orbit to 89.89 min, 231 x 306 km. A small phasing burn was carried out the following day at 07:09, and then two final rendezvous burns raised the orbit to 92.43 min, 390 x 396 km, matching that of the Mir station. Soyuz docked with Mir at 07:45:26 GMT on Mar 16 and the crew entered Mir at around 09:30. Launch of TM-21 meant that there were 13 people in space at once for the first time ever: Dezhurov, Strekalov, Thagard on Soyuz; Viktorenko, Kondakova and Polyakov on Mir; and Oswald, Gregory, Lawrence, Jernigan, Grunsfeld, Parise, and Durrance on Endeavour.
• The Soyuz TM spaceship was made up of three sections: the PAO (priborno-agregatniy otsek / service-equipment module), 3057 kg, which contains the engine and carries the solar panel wings; the SA (spuskaemiy apparat / descent vehicle), 2835 kg, with heat shield, command and control cabin, and the three cosmonaut couches; and the BO (bitovoi otsek / living module) of 1278 kg with the docking unit. Thagard was the first American to be launched in a Soyuz, although the ASTP crew flew in one while their Apollo craft was docked to it in 1975. On July 3 the EO-18 and STS-71 crews returned to Atlantis, and the EO-19 crew (Solovyov and Budarin) closed the Mir hatch at around 20:00 GMT. Early on July 4, the two EO-19 cosmonauts entered the Soyuz TM-21 ferry ship and prepared to undock for an exercise in joint manoeuvring and photography.
• Dezhurov and Strekalov performed five EVA′s on 12.05.1995 (6h 14m), 17.05.1995 (6h 41m), 22.05.1995 (5h 14m), 28.05.1995 (0h 21m) and 01.06.1995 (0h 22m) to rebuild the space station (installation of solar array and repositioning docking adapter); technical problems; they also performed life science experiments; crew returned to Earth with Space Shuttle STS-71.
• Soyuz TM-21 undocked at 10:55 GMT on Jul 4, and backed off to a distance of 100 m. Atlantis then undocked at 11:09:45 GMT and began to back away from the Mir station. As Atlantis began its flyaround at a distance of 210 m, Soyuz redocked with the Kvant module at 11:39 GMT. Redocking was about a minute early. Just prior to the redocking, one of Mir's attitude control computers crashed, putting Mir in free drift, although this was not considered a serious problem. This was Solovyov's seventh docking with Mir over the course of four missions. At 12:35 GMT, Atlantis completed its 360 degree flyaround and ignited its engines for the separation burn, while sending back spectacular TV of the Mir complex. The EO-19 crew returned to Earth on September 11 in Soyuz TM-21. Anatoli Solovyov and Nikolai Budarin undocked from the Kvant rear port on Mir at 03:30:44 GMT and landed at 50 deg 41'N 68 deg 15'E, 108 km northeast of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan, at 06:52:40 GMT. Soyuz TM-21 had been used to ferry the EO-18 crew (including Norm Thagard) into space in March; the EO-18 crew returned to Earth in June aboard Atlantis, which had delivered the EO-19 crew to the station.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Baikonur, signed by crew and send registrated.

Launch "Feldpost cancel 08814", send registrated.

Landing cancel Arkalyk with "TP 10T taxe" cancel, signed by crew and send registrated.