Soyuz TM-4 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight to Mir. It was launched on 21 December 1987, and carried the first two crew members of the third long duration expedition, Mir EO-3. These crew members, Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov, would stay in space for just under 366 days, setting a new spaceflight record. The third astronaut launched by Soyuz TM-4 was Anatoli Levchenko, who returned to Earth about a week later with the remaining crew of Mir EO-2. Levchenko was a prospective pilot for the Soviet Space shuttle Buran. The purpose of his mission, named Mir LII-1, was to familiarize him with spaceflight.[2]
COSPAR ID | 1987-104A ![]() |
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SATCAT no. | 18699 |
Mission duration | 178 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes, 29 seconds |
Orbits completed | ~2,890 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz-TM |
Manufacturer | NPO Energia |
Launch mass | 7,070 kilograms (15,590 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 3 |
Launching | Vladimir Titov Musa Manarov Anatoli Levchenko |
Landing | Anatoly Solovyev Viktor Savinykh Aleksandr Aleksandrov |
Callsign | Okean (Ocean) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 21 December 1987, 11:18:03 (1987-12-21UTC11:18:03Z) UTC |
Rocket | Soyuz-U2 |
Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 17 June 1988, 10:12:32 (1988-06-17UTC10:12:33Z) UTC |
Landing site | 180 kilometres (110 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Perigee altitude | 337 kilometres (209 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 357 kilometres (222 mi) |
Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
Period | 91.5 minutes |
Docking with Mir[1] | |
Docking date | 23 December 1987, 12:51:00 UTC |
Undocking date | 17 June 1988, 06:20:50 UTC |
![]() Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) |
It was the fourth Soyuz TM spacecraft to be launched (one of which was uncrewed), and like other Soyuz spacecraft, it was treated as a lifeboat for the station's crew while docked. In June 1988, part way through EO-3, Soyuz TM-4 was swapped for Soyuz TM-5 as the station's lifeboat. The mission which swapped the spacecraft was known as Mir EP-2, and had a three-person crew.[3]
Position | Launching crew | Landing crew |
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Commander | ![]() Mir EO-3 Second spaceflight |
![]() Mir EP-2 First spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | ![]() Mir EO-3 First spaceflight |
![]() Mir EP-2 Third and last spaceflight |
Research Cosmonaut | ![]() Mir LII-1 Only spaceflight |
![]() Mir EP-2 Only spaceflight |
Titov and Manarov were members of the long duration mission Mir EO-3, and returned to Earth just over a full year later, in Soyuz TM-6. Levchenko, on the other hand, returned to Earth about a week later in Soyuz TM-3.
In June 1988, Soyuz TM-4 landed the three-man crew of Mir EP-2, after their 9-day stay on the station; that crew included the second Bulgarian astronaut Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov.[3]
Position | Crew | |
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Commander | ![]() | |
Flight Engineer | ![]() | |
Research Cosmonaut | ![]() |
Fourth crewed spaceflight to Mir. Manarov and Titov (known by their callsign as the "Okeans") replaced Romanenko and Alexandrov. Anatoli Levchenko was a cosmonaut in the Buran shuttle program. Levchenko returned with Romanenko and Alexandrov in Soyuz TM-3.
Before departing Mir, Romanenko and Alexandrov demonstrated use of EVA equipment to the Okeans. The Okeans delivered biological experiments, including the Aynur biological crystal growth apparatus, which they installed in Kvant-1. The combined crews conducted an evacuation drill, with the Mir computer simulating an emergency.[4]
Titov and Manarov conducted part of an ongoing survey of galaxies and star groups in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum using the Glazar telescope on Kvant. The survey required photography with exposure times up to 8 min. Even small cosmonaut movements could shake the complex. This produced blurring of astronomical images, so all cosmonaut movements had to be stopped during the exposures.
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 |
← 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). |