Engineering:Soyuz-TM

Soyuz-TM

Soyuz-TM spacecraft.
Manufacturer	Korolev
Country of origin	Soviet Union and Russia
Operator	Soviet space program/Russian Federal Space Agency
Applications	Carry three cosmonauts to Mir and ISS and back
Specifications
Design life	Up to six months docked to station
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Production
Status	Out of service
Launched	34
Maiden launch	Soyuz TM-1, 1986
Last launch	Soyuz TM-34, 2002
Related spacecraft
Derived from	Soyuz-T
Derivatives	Soyuz-TMA

The Soyuz-TM were fourth generation (1986–2002) Soyuz spacecraft used for ferry flights to the Mir and ISS space stations. The Soyuz spacecraft consisted of three parts, the Orbital Module, the Descent Module and the Service Module.

The first launch of the spacecraft was the uncrewed Soyuz TM-1 on May 21, 1986, where it docked with the Mir space station. The final flight was Soyuz TM-34, which docked with the International Space Station and landed November 10, 2002.

Background

After the Apollo-Soyuz Test project in 1976, the Soyuz for crewed flights had the singular mission of supporting crewed space stations. The original Soyuz had a limited endurance when docked with a station, only about 60 to 90 days. There were two avenues for extending the duration of missions past this. The first avenue was to make upgrades to increase the Soyuz spacecraft's endurance. The Soyuz-T could last 120 days and the Soyuz-TM could last 180 days. The other was to use a Visiting Expedition to fly a new Soyuz up to the station and depart with the spacecraft nearing the end of its rated endurance.

The preliminary design was released in April 1981 and the main set of working documentation was released in early 1982.

Upgrades from Soyuz-T

The Soyuz-TM was an upgraded version of the Soyuz-T. The TM stood for transport modified (or транспортный модифицированный in Russian).

Orbital Module

With the growth of orbital complexes, the Soyuz-T used the Igla system that required continuous orientation with the station and had high fuel costs. The Soyuz-TM was upgraded with the Kurs system that did not require the same orientation from the station and allowed measurements from a range of 200 km instead of the 30 km of the Igla.

Descent Module

It also increased the payload to 51.6° orbit by 200–250 kg and was able to return 70–90 kg more back to earth. Energia accomplished this by increasing the capabilities of the launch vehicle and decreasing the mass of the ship. The parachute system mass was decreased by 120 kg (40%) by using synthetic material for the slings and lightweight material for the parachute domes.

Propulsion/Service Module

It also featured a new KTDU-80 propulsion module that permitted the Soyuz-TM to maneuver independently of the station, without the station making "mirror image" maneuvers to match unwanted translations introduced by earlier models' aft-mounted attitude control. It also used the baffles inside the tanks became structural, allowing further reduction in mass.

Typical Flight for Soyuz-TM

Training

Soyuz TM control panel simulator

Classroom training is completed on Soyuz systems and required crew operations. Cosmonauts must pass an oral test on the material for certification. Training was also completed on Soyuz mockups and simulators. Two weeks before launch, after passing all the tests, the crew is flown to Baikonur to participate in a test at the launch site to go through all the steps associated with the launch.

For Flight Readiness

The final decision to launch is made by the assembly company (General Designer). There is a Space Committee formed of approximately 20 people headed by a 3-star General for Air and Space with the following representation:

• RSA
• NPO-Energia
• General Designer
• Central Institute of Machine Building
• Ministry of Defense
• Physicians
• Baikonur

When different companies/countries are involved, they are represented as well at on the Space Committee. For Soyuz launches, the Ministry of Defense representative states that everything has been checked because all preparations at Baikonur are performed by the military. Independent assessment is made by the Central Institute of Machine Building for every flight. Cosmonauts had to get clearance from the Russian Medical Commission, the Institute of Biomedical Problems and the GCTC at the flight readiness Review.

Table of Flights

Mission	Launch	Launch Crew	Landed	Landed Crew	Duration	Summary
Soyuz TM-1	21 May 1986		30 May 1986		9 days	Uncrewed test flight
Soyuz TM-2	5 February 1987	Mir EO-2:  Yuri Romanenko  Aleksandr Laveykin	30 July 1987	Mir EP-1:  Aleksandr Viktorenko  Muhammed Faris Mir EO-2:  Aleksandr Laveykin	174 days
Soyuz TM-3	22 July 1987	Mir EP-1:  Aleksandr Viktorenko  Muhammed Faris Mir EO-2:  Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov	29 December 1987	Mir EO-2:  Yuri Romanenko  Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov Mir LII-1:  Anatoli Levchenko	160 days
Soyuz TM-4	21 December 1987	Mir EO-3:  Vladimir Titov  Musa Manarov Mir LII-1:  Anatoli Levchenko	17 June 1988	Mir EP-2:  Anatoly Solovyev  Viktor Savinykh  Aleksandr Aleksandrov	178 days
Soyuz TM-5	7 June 1988	Mir EP-2:  Anatoly Solovyev  Viktor Savinykh  Aleksandr Aleksandrov	7 September 1988	Mir EP-3:  Vladimir Lyakhov  Abdul Ahad Mohmand	91 days
Soyuz TM-6	29 August 1988	Mir EP-3:  Vladimir Lyakhov  Abdul Mohmand  Valeri Polyakov	21 December 1988	Mir EO-3:  Vladimir Titov  Musa Manarov Mir Aragatz:  Jean-Loup Chrétien	114 days
Soyuz TM-7	26 November 1988	Mir EO-4:  Alexander Volkov  Sergei Krikalev Mir Aragatz:  Jean-Loup Chrétien	27 April 1989	Mir EO-4:  Alexander Volkov  Sergei Krikalev  Valeri Polyakov	151 days
Soyuz TM-8	5 September 1989	Mir EO-5:  Aleksandr Viktorenko  Aleksandr Serebrov	19 February 1990	Mir EO-5:  Aleksandr Viktorenko  Aleksandr Serebrov	166 days
Soyuz TM-9	11 February 1990	Mir EO-6:  Anatoly Solovyev  Aleksandr Balandin	9 August 1990	Mir EO-6:  Anatoly Solovyev  Aleksandr Balandin	179 days
Soyuz TM-10	1 August 1990	Mir EO-7:  Gennady Manakov  Gennady Strekalov	10 December 1990	Mir EO-7:  Gennady Manakov  Gennady Strekalov Reporter:  Toyohiro Akiyama	130 days
Soyuz TM-11	2 December 1990	Mir EO-8:  Viktor Afanasyev  Musa Manarov Reporter:  Toyohiro Akiyama	26 May 1991	Mir EO-8:  Viktor Afanasyev  Musa Manarov Project Juno:  Helen Sharman	175 days
Soyuz TM-12	18 May 1991	Mir EO-9:  Anatoly Artsebarsky  Sergei Krikalev Project Juno:  Helen Sharman	10 October 1991	Mir EO-9:  Anatoly Artsebarsky Others: Template:Country data Kazakh SSR Toktar Aubakirov  Franz Viehböck	144 days
Soyuz TM-13	2 October 1991	Mir EO-10:  Alexander Volkov Others: Template:Country data Kazakh SSR Toktar Aubakirov  Franz Viehböck	25 March 1992	Mir EO-10:  Alexander Volkov  Sergei Krikalev Other:  Klaus-Dietrich Flade	175 days	In orbit during the Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Soyuz TM-14	17 March 1992	Mir EO-11:  Aleksandr Viktorenko  Aleksandr Kaleri Other:  Klaus-Dietrich Flade	10 August 1992	Mir EO-11:  Aleksandr Viktorenko  Aleksandr Kaleri Other:  Michel Tognini	145 days
Soyuz TM-15	27 July 1992	Mir EO-12:  Anatoly Solovyev  Sergei Avdeyev Other:  Michel Tognini	1 February 1993	Mir EO-12:  Anatoly Solovyev  Sergei Avdeyev	188 days
Soyuz TM-16	24 January 1993	Mir EO-13:  Gennadi Manakov  Alexander Poleshchuk	22 July 1993	Mir EO-13:  Gennadi Manakov  Alexander Poleshchuk Other:  Jean-Pierre Haigneré	179 days
Soyuz TM-17	1 July 1993	Mir EO-14:  Vasili Tsibliyev  Aleksandr Serebrov Other:  Jean-Pierre Haigneré	14 January 1994	Mir EO-14:  Vasili Tsibliyev  Aleksandr Serebrov	196 days
Soyuz TM-18	8 January 1994	Mir EO-15:  Viktor Afanasyev  Yury Usachov  Valeri Polyakov	9 July 1994	Mir EO-15:  Viktor Afanasyev  Yury Usachov	182 days
Soyuz TM-19	1 July 1994	Mir EO-16:  Yuri Malenchenko  Talgat Musabayev	4 November 1994	Mir EO-16:  Yuri Malenchenko  Talgat Musabayev Euromir 94:  Ulf Merbold	125 days
Soyuz TM-20	3 October 1994	Mir EO-17:  Aleksandr Viktorenko  Yelena Kondakova Euromir 94:  Ulf Merbold	22 March 1995	Mir EO-17:  Aleksandr Viktorenko  Yelena Kondakova  Valeri Polyakov	169 days
Soyuz TM-21	14 March 1995	Mir EO-18:  Vladimir Dezhurov  Gennady Strekalov  Norman Thagard	11 September 1995	Mir EO-19:  Anatoly Solovyev  Nikolai Budarin	181 days
Soyuz TM-22	3 September 1995	Mir EO-20:  Yuri Gidzenko  Sergei Avdeyev Euromir 95:  Thomas Reiter	29 February 1996	Mir EO-20:  Yuri Gidzenko  Sergei Avdeyev Euromir 95:  Thomas Reiter	179 days
Soyuz TM-23	21 February 1996	Mir EO-21:  Yuri Onufrienko  Yury Usachov	2 September 1996	Mir EO-21:  Yuri Onufrienko  Yury Usachov Other:  Claudie André-Deshays	193 days
Soyuz TM-24	17 August 1996	Mir EO-22:  Valery Korzun  Aleksandr Kaleri Other:  Claudie André-Deshays	2 March 1997	Mir EO-22:  Valery Korzun  Aleksandr Kaleri Other:  Reinhold Ewald	196 days
Soyuz TM-25	10 February 1997	Mir EO-23:  Vasili Tsibliyev  Aleksandr Lazutkin Other:  Reinhold Ewald	14 August 1997	Mir EO-23:  Vasili Tsibliyev  Aleksandr Lazutkin	184 days
Soyuz TM-26	5 August 1997	Mir EO-24:  Anatoly Solovyev  Pavel Vinogradov	19 February 1998	Mir EO-24:  Anatoly Solovyev  Pavel Vinogradov Other:  Léopold Eyharts	197 days
Soyuz TM-27	29 January 1998	Mir EO-25:  Talgat Musabayev  Nikolai Budarin Other:  Léopold Eyharts	25 August 1998	Mir EO-25:  Talgat Musabayev  Nikolai Budarin Other:  Yuri Baturin	207 days
Soyuz TM-28	13 August 1998	Mir EO-26:  Gennady I. Padalka  Sergei Avdeyev Other:  Yuri Baturin	28 February 1999	Mir EO-26:  Gennady I. Padalka Other:  Ivan Bella	198 days
Soyuz TM-29	20 February 1999	Mir EO-27:  Viktor Afanasyev  Jean-Pierre Haigneré Other:  Ivan Bella	28 August 1999	Mir EO-27:  Viktor Afanasyev  Jean-Pierre Haigneré Other:  Sergei Avdeyev	188 days
Soyuz TM-30	4 April 2000	Mir EO-28:  Sergei Zalyotin  Aleksandr Kaleri	16 June 2000	Mir EO-28:  Sergei Zalyotin  Aleksandr Kaleri	72 days	Last mission to Mir
Soyuz TM-31	31 October 2000	Expedition 1:  Yuri Gidzenko  Sergei Krikalev  William Shepherd	6 May 2001	ISS EP-1:  Talgat Musabayev  Yuri Baturin  Dennis Tito	186 days	First Soyuz to the International Space Station
Soyuz TM-32	28 April 2001	ISS EP-1:  Talgat Musabayev  Yuri Baturin  Dennis Tito	31 October 2001	ISS EP-2:  Viktor M. Afanasyev  Claudie Haigneré  Konstantin Kozeyev	185 days
Soyuz TM-33	21 October 2001	ISS EP-2:  Viktor M. Afanasyev  Claudie Haigneré  Konstantin Kozeyev	5 May 2002	Yuri Gidzenko  Roberto Vittori  Mark Shuttleworth	195 days
Soyuz TM-34	25 April 2002	Yuri Gidzenko  Roberto Vittori  Mark Shuttleworth	10 November 2002	Sergei Zalyotin  Frank De Winne  Yury Lonchakov	198 days

Gallery

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External links

• RSC Energia: Concept Of Russian Manned Space Navigation Development
• Mir Hardware Heritage
  • David S.F. Portree, Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, 1995
  • Mir Hardware Heritage (wikisource)
• Information on Soyuz spacecraft
• OMWorld's ASTP Docking Trainer Page
• NASA - Russian Soyuz TMA Spacecraft Details
• Space Adventures circum-lunar mission - details