Soyuz TM-21
Soyuz TM-21 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight to Mir. The mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket, at 06:11:34 UTC on 14 March 1995. The flight marked the first time thirteen humans were flying in space simultaneously, with 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. This included the first American astronaut to launch on a Soyuz spacecraft and board Mir, Norman Thagard, for the American Thagard Increment aboard the station, which was 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 11 September 1995.Crew
Mir Principal Expedition 18
The major objectives of the Mir 18 mission were to conduct joint U.S.-Russian medical research and weightlessness effects investigations and to reconfigure the station for the arrival of the Spektr science module and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The historic mission saw the addition of the first new module since Kristall arrived in 1990, the first American to be part of a Mir crew, and the first docking of a U.S. spacecraft with the Mir space station.March 1995 – Mir 18 Arrives/Mir 17 Departs
Progress M-26 Undocks for Soyuz TM-21 to Dock
separated from the complex on 15 March and made a destructive reentry into the Earth's atmosphere to clear the Kvant docking port for the new Soyuz. Soyuz TM-21 docked by automatic control at the Kvant docking port on the first try at 7:45 UTC on 16 March. The new arrivals were greeted by the Mir 17 crew with the traditional Russian gifts of salt and bread, and shortly thereafter were congratulated on a successful docking and transfer by Russian Space Agency Director General Yuri Koptev and NASA Associate Administrator Wayne Littles. The crew spent much of the day transferring equipment and supplies from Soyuz to Mir. Norman Thagard spoke with STS-67 Commander Steve Oswald in a radio hookup, exchanging congratulations on their respective flights and discussing the symbolic importance of Thagard's venture as the first American to visit Mir.
On 17 March, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin stopped by the TsUP to congratulate the crew. Later, in a televised communication with ground controllers, Thagard said he hoped his visit to Mir would be the start of long-term space cooperation between the two nations. He and Polyakov agreed that the present joint research might be the foundation for ultimate joint flights to Mars.
During the next few days, the Mir 18 crew took their body mass measurements as a baseline for investigations throughout the mission and were briefed by the Mir 17 crew on the status of the complex and ongoing studies. The outgoing crew stowed equipment and experiment samples in Soyuz TM-20 for their return and checked out the vehicle systems.Mir 17 Mission Ends
, Yelena Kondakova and Valeri Polyakov entered Soyuz TM-20 on 21 March and departed from Mir on 22 March, landing safely on the same day about 50 km from Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Polyakov had set a new record for spaceflight duration: he had been on Mir since 8 January 1994 for 438 straight days. This trip, added to his Mir stay in 1988, brought his total days in space to 679. He was, however, strong enough to walk to the chairs that rescue crews provided for the cosmonauts' transport to a field hospital. He said his fit condition was a positive indication that humans could withstand a trip to Mars.Mir 18 Crew On Their Own
The Mir 18 crew settled into their daily routine, collecting body fluid samples for the seven metabolic experiments to be performed during their mission. They also took air and water samples for four hygiene, sanitation and radiation experiments which would determine the role of the Mir environment in human health, safety and efficiency. Each crewman spent time in a Chibis suit for measurement of cardiovascular system responses to lower body negative pressure. In the absence of gravity, blood pools in the upper torso and head, causing cardiovascular deconditioning. The Chibis suit sealed at the waist and incrementally induced a partial vacuum, or negative pressure, which drew body fluids back to the lower extremities. Dezhurov and Strekalov also changed out a condenser in the air conditioning system, part of a long-term maintenance program to prolong the life of the station.April 1995 – Resupply and Maintenance
Progress M-27 Resupplies Mir
Progress M-27 was launched from Baikonur on 9 April. It docked with the Mir base block on 11 April at 21:00 UTC under flawless control by the automatic Kurs system, although Dezhurov was ready to take over by manual control if Kurs malfunctions recurred. This Progress module carried with it a Raduga return capsule.On the 34th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight in a Vostock capsule, the Mir crew had a light schedule for Cosmonautics Day, a Russian national holiday. Activities included press conferences through the Russian and U.S. mission control centers.Progress Unloaded
On 13 April, the crew began unloading the Progress cargo of food, water, fuel, repair materials for life support systems and equipment for medical and environmental research. Among the biological experiments were some Japanese quail eggs. These, the crew put into an incubator on 14 April. Progress M-27 also brought a new international experiment in the form of GFZ-1, a spherical satellite with a mass of 20 kg and a diameter of 21 cm. The German satellite was built by the German firm Kayser-Threde. Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam would coordinate the satellite's transmission of geodetic measurements by means of laser reflection to about 25 observatories around the globe. GFZ-1 was successfully launched by the Mir crew from the base block airlock on 19 April. Two days before, the crew had launched a container with garbage as a practice run for the operation.Interior Station Work
Late in April, the crew learned that extravehicular activities for solar array work, scheduled to start on 28 April, had been postponed due to a delay in launch of the Spektr module. One reason for the delay was that equipment to interface with Mir's manual control system was added to Spektr in case the Kurs system failed again. The crew continued routine experiment work, defrosted the ESA freezer, replaced a humidity control fan with one from Progress M-27, installed a battery unit in the Kristall module and began removing an unused shower in the Kvant module to make room for a new set of gyrodynes to support the upcoming Atlantis docking. They dismantled the shower and cut it into small pieces for stowage on the Progress module, then installed the gyrodynes.May 1995 – Four EVAs
Injury Jeopardizes EVA Plans
ITAR-TASS reported on 5 May that Strekalov had scratched his hand earlier during cleaning tasks. The scratch became inflamed and caused some concern about Strekalov's ability to do the EVA work. Medical specialists on the ground viewed downlink video of the hand and prescribed a medication to be administered by Thagard. The injury healed and the EVA plans proceeded.First Mir 18 EVA
On 12 May, Dezhurov and Strekalov began their first EVA to prepare the station for Spektr's arrival, exiting the Kvant 2 airlock at 4:20 UTC and transferring to the Kvant astrophysics module by means of the STrela boom. There they installed electrical cable attachments and adjusted solar array actuators. Then they moved to Kristall and practiced folding three panels of the solar array to be moved to Kvant. Thagard supported the crew from inside Mir by relaying instructions from the ground or from reference manuals when the station was not in range of ground communications. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 15 minutes.Problems on the Second EVA
In their second space walk, on 17 May, the cosmonauts successfully folded the solar array panels, assisted by Thagard, who controlled servomotor switches from inside Kristall. The spacewalkers disconnected the array from Kristall, attached it to the Strela boom, and moved it to Kvant. The work took so much time that, having already almost used the oxygen available through their suits, they were forced to secure the array to Kvant with tool teathers and postpone electrical connection. Even so, the EVA lasted 6 hours and 52 minutes. Power supply inside the station suffered without the connection of the array, necessitating interim agumentation by Progress M-27 and Soyuz TM-21's solar arrays.Solar Array Redeployed in Mir 18 Third EVA
On their 22 May walk of 5 hours and 15 minutes, Dezhurov and Strekalov successfully connected the solar array to Kvant, and Thagard commanded its redeployment from inside the station. The cosmonauts then returned to Kristall, where the retracted 13 panels of another solar array to provide clearance for rotation of Kristall during its relocation to make room for Spektr. Approximately 60% of that array was still available as a power source.Progress M-27 Undocks to Free -X Port
Progress M-27 left Mir at 23:53 UTC on 22 May and made a destructive reentry into the Pacific on 23 May. Thus the -Y port was freed for use in the multiple module relocation that would be necessary for the docking and ultimate permanent placement of Spektr.First Kristall Move and Fourth EVA
From inside the station, Dezhurov controlled the undocking of Kristall on 26 May from the -Y port. Then the module was moved by means of its Lyappa arm to the -X port just vacated by Progress M-27. On 28 May, in their fourth EVA of the mission, Dezhurov and Strekalov moved a docking cone, from the -Y port to the -Z port to serve as the docking receptacle for Kristall in its next move. The space-suited cosmonauts did this work from inside the depressurized base block transfer compartment.