Soyuz TM-12 was the 12th expedition to Mir, and included the first Briton in space,[1] Helen Sharman.
COSPAR ID | 1991-034A |
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SATCAT no. | 21311 |
Mission duration | 144 days, 15 hours, 21 minutes, 50 seconds |
Orbits completed | ~2,260 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz-TM |
Manufacturer | NPO Energia |
Launch mass | 7,160 kilograms (15,790 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 3 |
Members | Anatoly Artsebarsky |
Launching | Sergei Krikalev Helen Sharman |
Landing | Toktar Aubakirov Franz Viehböck |
Callsign | Озо́н (Ozone) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 18 May 1991, 12:50:28 (1991-05-18UTC12:50:28Z) UTC |
Rocket | Soyuz-U2 |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 10 October 1991, 04:12:18 (1991-10-10UTC04:12:19Z) UTC |
Landing site | 61 kilometres (38 mi) SW of Arkalyk |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Perigee altitude | 389 kilometres (242 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 397 kilometres (247 mi) |
Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
Period | 92.4 minutes |
Docking with Mir | |
Docking date | 20 May 1991, 14:30:43 UTC |
Undocking date | 9 October 1991, 20:55:08 UTC |
Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) |
Position | Launching crew | Landing crew |
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Commander | Anatoly Artsebarsky Only spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | / Sergei Krikalev Second spaceflight |
Toktar Aubakirov Only spaceflight |
Research Cosmonaut | Helen Sharman Only spaceflight Project Juno |
Franz Viehböck Only spaceflight |
The Mir crew welcomed aboard Anatoli Artsebarski, Sergei Krikalev (on his second visit to the station), and British cosmonaut-researcher Helen Sharman, who was aboard as part of Project Juno, a cooperative venture partly sponsored by British private enterprise. Sharman's experimental program, which was designed by the Soviets, leaned heavily toward life sciences, her speciality being chemistry. A bag of 250,000 pansy seeds was placed in the Kvant-2 EVA airlock, a compartment not as protected from cosmic radiation as other Mir compartments. Sharman also contacted nine British schools by radio and conducted high-temperature superconductor experiments with the Elektropograph-7K device. Sharman commented that she had difficulty finding equipment on Mir as there was a great deal more equipment than in the trainer in the cosmonaut city of Zvezdny Gorodok. Krikalev commented that, while Mir had more modules than it had had the first time he lived on board, it did not seem less crowded, as it contained more equipment. Krikalev also noted that some of the materials making up the station's exterior had faded and lost color, but that this had had no impact on the station's operation.
The spacecraft spent 144 days docked to Mir. While it was in orbit, the failed coup d'état against Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991 rocked the Soviet Union, setting in motion events which led to the end of the Soviet Union on 26 December.
Out of the Present, a 1995 film documentary focused on cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev's stay on Mir, features the arrival of Soyuz TM-12.
Soyuz programme | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Main topics |
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Past missions (by spacecraft type) |
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Current missions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Future missions |
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Uncrewed missions are designated as Kosmos instead of Soyuz; exceptions are noted "(uncrewed)". The † sign designates failed missions. Italics designates cancelled missions. |
Human spaceflights to Mir | ||
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1986–1990 | ||
1991–1995 | ||
1996–2000 |
← 1990 · Orbital launches in 1991 · 1992 → | |
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NATO 4A | Progress M-6 | Italsat 1 · Eutelsat-2 F2 | Kosmos 2121 | Kosmos 2122 | Informator No.1 | Kosmos 2123 | Kosmos 2124 | Kosmos 2125 · Kosmos 2126 · Kosmos 2127 · Kosmos 2128 · Kosmos 2129 · Kosmos 2130 · Kosmos 2131 · Kosmos 2132 | Kosmos 2133 | Kosmos 2134 | Molniya 1-80 | Kosmos 2135 | Gran' No.38L | Astra 1B · Meteosat 5 | Kosmos 2136 | USA-69 | Inmarsat-2 F2 | Nadezhda No.409 | Progress M-7 | Kosmos 2137 | Molniya-3 No.55 | Kosmos 2138 | Almaz 1 | Kosmos 2139 · Kosmos 2140 · Kosmos 2141 | Anik E2 | STS-37 (Compton GRO) | ASC-2 | Kosmos 2142 | BS-3h | Meteor-3 No.6 | STS-39 (IBSS/SPAS (CRO-A · CRO-B · CRO-C) · USA-70) | NOAA-12 | Kosmos 2143 · Kosmos 2144 · Kosmos 2145 · Kosmos 2146 · Kosmos 2147 · Kosmos 2148 | Soyuz TM-12 | Resurs-F2 No.6 | Kosmos 2149 | Satcom C5 | Progress M-8 | Okean-O1 No.6 | STS-40 | Kosmos 2150 | Kosmos 2151 | Molniya 1-81 | Unnamed | Resurs-F1 No.52 | REX | Gorizont No.34L | USA-71 · Losat-X | Kosmos 2152 | Kosmos 2153 | ERS-1 · Orbcomm-X · SARA · Tubsat-A · UoSAT-5 | Microsat 1 · Microsat 2 · Microsat 3 · Microsat 4 · Microsat 5 · Microsat 6 · Microsat 7 | Resurs-F1 No.53 | Molniya 1-82 | STS-43 (TDRS-5) | Intelsat VI F5 | Meteor-3 No.5 | Progress M-9 | Resurs-F2 No.7 | Kosmos 2154 | Yuri 3b | IRS-1B | Yohkoh | Unnamed | STS-48 (UARS) | Kosmos 2155 | Molniya-3 No.48 | Kosmos 2156 | Anik E1 | Kosmos 2157 · Kosmos 2158 · Kosmos 2159 · Kosmos 2160 · Kosmos 2161 · Kosmos 2162 | Soyuz TM-13 | Foton No.7L | Kosmos 2163 | Kosmos 2164 | Progress M-10 | Gorizont No.35L | Intelsat VI F1 | USA-72 · USA-74 · USA-76 · USA-77 | Kosmos 2165 · Kosmos 2166 · Kosmos 2167 · Kosmos 2168 · Kosmos 2169 · Kosmos 2170 | Kosmos 2171 | Kosmos 2172 | STS-44 (USA-75) | Kosmos 2173 | USA-73 | Eutelsat-2 F3 | Telecom 2A · Inmarsat-2 F3 | Kosmos 2174 | Interkosmos 25 · Magion 3 | Gran' No.39L | Zhongxing-4 | |
Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in brackets. |