Soyuz TM-3 was the third crewed spaceflight to visit the Soviet space station Mir, following Soyuz T-15 and Soyuz TM-2. It was launched in July 1987, during the long duration expedition Mir EO-2, and acted as a lifeboat for the second segment of that expedition. There were three people aboard the spacecraft at launch, including the two man crew of the week-long mission Mir EP-1, consisting of Soviet cosmonaut Aleksandr Viktorenko and Syrian Muhammed Faris. Faris was the first Syrian to travel to space, and as of June 2021, the only one. The third cosmonaut launched was Aleksandr Aleksandrov, who would replace one of the long duration crew members Aleksandr Laveykin of Mir EO-2. Laveykin had been diagnosed by ground-based doctors to have minor heart problems, so he returned to Earth with the EP-1 crew in Soyuz TM-2.[3]
![]() 1987 USSR stamp commemorating Soviet-Syrian collaboration in the TM-3 mission. | |
COSPAR ID | 1987-063A ![]() |
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SATCAT no. | 18222 |
Mission duration | 160 days, 7 hours, 25 minutes, 56 seconds |
Orbits completed | ~2,580 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz-TM |
Manufacturer | NPO Energia |
Launch mass | 7,100 kilograms (15,700 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 3 |
Members | Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov |
Launching | Aleksandr Viktorenko Muhammed Faris |
Landing | Yuri Romanenko Anatoli Levchenko |
Callsign | Vityaz (Knight) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 22 July 1987, 01:59:17 (1987-07-22UTC01:59:17Z) UTC[1] |
Rocket | Soyuz-U2 |
Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 29 December 1987, 09:16:15 (1987-12-29UTC09:16:16Z) UTC |
Landing site | 140 kilometres (87 mi) NE of Arkalyk |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Perigee altitude | 297 kilometres (185 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 353 kilometres (219 mi) |
Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
Period | 91.0 minutes |
Docking with Mir[2] | |
Docking date | 24 July 1987, 03:31:23 UTC |
Undocking date | 29 December 1987, 05:58:00 UTC |
![]() Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) |
Soyuz TM-3 landed near the end of December 1987, landing both members of the EO-2 crew, as well as potential Buran pilot Anatoli Levchenko, who had been launched to Mir a week earlier aboard Soyuz TM-4.
Position | Launching crew | Landing crew |
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Commander | ![]() Mir EP-1 First spaceflight |
![]() Mir EO-2 Third and last spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | ![]() Mir EO-2 Second and last spaceflight | |
Research Cosmonaut | ![]() Mir EP-1 Only spaceflight |
![]() Mir LII-1 Only spaceflight |
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. |
Interkosmos programme | ||
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Satellites |
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Manned flights |
Human spaceflights to Mir | ||
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1986–1990 | ![]() | |
1991–1995 | ||
1996–2000 |
← 1986 · Orbital launches in 1987 · 1988 → | |
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Meteor-2 No.17 | Kosmos 1811 | Kosmos 1812 | Kosmos 1813 | Progress 27 | Kosmos 1814 | Kosmos 1815 | Molniya-3 No.42 | Kosmos 1816 | Kosmos 1817 | Kosmos 1818 | Ginga | Soyuz TM-2 | Kosmos 1819 | USA-21 | Kosmos 1820 | Kosmos 1821 | Momo 1 | Kosmos 1822 | Kosmos 1823 | Kosmos 1824 | GOES 7 | Progress 28 | Kosmos 1825 | Kosmos 1826 | Kosmos 1827 · Kosmos 1828 · Kosmos 1829 · Kosmos 1830 · Kosmos 1831 · Kosmos 1832 | Kosmos 1833 | Gran' No.31L | Palapa B2P | SROSS-A | FLTSATCOM-6 | Kvant-1 | Kosmos 1834 | Kosmos 1835 | Kosmos 1836 | Progress 29 | Kosmos 1837 | Kosmos 1838 · Kosmos 1839 · Kosmos 1840 | Kosmos 1841 | Kosmos 1842 | Kosmos 1843 | Gorizont No.23L | Kosmos 1844 | Kosmos 1845 | USA-22 · LIPS-3 · USA-23 · USA-24 · USA-25 | Polyus | Progress 30 | Kosmos 1846 | Kosmos 1847 | Kosmos 1848 | Kosmos 1849 | Kosmos 1850 | Kosmos 1851 | Kosmos 1852 · Kosmos 1853 · Kosmos 1854 · Kosmos 1855 · Kosmos 1856 · Kosmos 1857 · Kosmos 1858 · Kosmos 1859 | Resurs-F1 No.105 | Kosmos 1860 | USA-26 | Kosmos 1861 | Kosmos 1862 | Kosmos 1863 | Kosmos 1864 | Kosmos 1865 | Kosmos 1866 | Kosmos 1867 | Kosmos 1868 | Kosmos 1869 | Soyuz TM-3 | Kosmos 1870 | Kosmos 1871 | Progress 31 | Fanhui Shi Weixing 10 | Meteor-2 No.21 | Kosmos 1872 | Kiku No.5 | Kosmos 1873 | Kosmos 1874 | Ekran No.29L | Kosmos 1875 · Kosmos 1876 · Kosmos 1877 · Kosmos 1878 · Kosmos 1879 · Kosmos 1880 | Fanhui Shi Weixing I-01 | Kosmos 1881 | Kosmos 1882 | Aussat A3 · ECS-4 | Kosmos 1883 · Kosmos 1884 · Kosmos 1885 | Transit-O 27 · Transit-O 29 | Kosmos 1886 | Progress 32 | Kosmos 1887 | Kosmos 1888 | Kosmos 1889 | Kosmos 1890 | Kosmos 1891 | Kosmos 1892 | Kosmos 1893 | USA-27 | Kosmos 1894 | Kosmos 1895 | Kosmos 1896 | Progress 33 | TV-SAT 1 | Kosmos 1897 | USA-28 | Kosmos 1898 | Kosmos 1899 | Gran' No.32L | Kosmos 1900 | Kosmos 1901 | Kosmos 1902 | Soyuz TM-4 | Kosmos 1903 | Kosmos 1904 | Kosmos 1905 | Kosmos 1906 | Ekran-M No.13L | Kosmos 1907 | |
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). |