Soyuz TM-2 was a crewed spaceflight to the Soviet space station Mir, which was uncrewed at the time. TM-2 was launched on February 5, 1987, and it was first crewed spaceflight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft,[4] and the second crewed 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.

Soyuz TM-2
COSPAR ID1987-013A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.17482
Mission duration174 days, 3 hours, 25 minutes, 56 seconds
Orbits completed~2,810
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSoyuz 7K-STM No. 52
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-TM
ManufacturerNPO Energia
Launch mass7,100 kilograms (15,700 lb)
Crew
Crew size2 up
3 down
MembersAleksandr Laveykin
LaunchingYuri Romanenko
LandingAleksandr Viktorenko
Muhammed Faris
CallsignTaimyr
Start of mission
Launch date5 February 1987, 21:38:16 (1987-02-05UTC21:38:16Z) UTC[1]
RocketSoyuz-U2
Launch siteBaikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date30 July 1987, 01:04:12 (1987-07-30UTC01:04:13Z) UTC[2]
Landing site80 kilometres (50 mi) from Arkalyk
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude341 kilometres (212 mi)
Apogee altitude365 kilometres (227 mi)
Inclination51.6 degrees
Period91.6 minutes
Docking with Mir[3]
Docking date7 February 1987, 23:27:40 UTC
Undocking date29 July 1987, 20:44:00 UTC
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)

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.

Crew

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Position Launching crew Landing crew
Commander   Yuri Romanenko
Mir EO-2
Third and last spaceflight
  Aleksandr Viktorenko
Mir EP-1
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer   Aleksandr Laveykin
Mir EO-2
Only spaceflight
Research Cosmonaut None   Muhammed Faris
Mir EP-1
Only spaceflight

Mission parameters

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  • Mass: 7100 kg
  • Perigee: 341 km
  • Apogee: 365 km
  • Inclination: 51.6°
  • Period: 91.6 minutes

Mission highlights

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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.[1] Following an emergency spacewalk, Kvant fully docked to the station on April 11.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mir EO-2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 9 April 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  2. ^ "Mir EP-1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  3. ^ "Soyuz TM-2". Spacefacts.de. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Soyuz TM". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on June 24, 2002. Retrieved 11 November 2010.