Soyuz TM-5 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight to Mir. It was launched on June 7, 1988, carrying the Mir EP-2 mission's three-person crew. This week-long stay on Mir occurred during the third long-duration Mir expedition, Mir EO-3. The crew of EP-2 returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-4, while the TM-5 spacecraft remained docked to Mir, acting as the lifeboat for the long-duration crew. On September 7, 1988, the TM-5 spacecraft undocked from Mir, and landed Mir EP-3 mission's two-person visiting crew. The de-orbit procedures for Soyuz were revised after this flight, as multiple issues almost prevented the descent module's safe de-orbit and landing.
COSPAR ID | 1988-048A ![]() |
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SATCAT no. | 19204 |
Mission duration | 91 days, 10 hours, 46 minutes, 25 seconds[1] |
Orbits completed | ~1,475 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz-TM |
Manufacturer | NPO Energia |
Launch mass | 7,000 kilograms (15,000 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 3 up 2 down |
Launching | Anatoly Solovyev Viktor Savinykh Aleksandr Aleksandrov |
Landing | Vladimir Lyakhov Abdul Ahad Mohmand |
Callsign | Родни́к (Rodnik- Spring) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 7 June 1988, 14:03:13 (1988-06-07UTC14:03:13Z) UTC[1] |
Rocket | Soyuz-U2 |
Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 7 September 1988, 00:49:38 (1988-09-07UTC00:49:39Z) UTC |
Landing site | 202 kilometres (126 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Perigee altitude | 173 kilometres (107 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 241 kilometres (150 mi) |
Inclination | ~51.6 degrees |
Period | 88.6 minutes |
Docking with Mir[2] | |
Docking date | 9 June 1988, 15:57:10 UTC |
Undocking date | 5 September 1988, 23:54:57 UTC |
![]() Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) |
Position | Launching crew | Landing crew |
---|---|---|
Commander | ![]() Mir EP-2 First spaceflight |
![]() Mir EP-3 Third and last spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | ![]() Mir EP-2 Third and last spaceflight |
None |
Research Cosmonaut | ![]() Mir EP-2 Only spaceflight |
![]() Mir EP-3 Only spaceflight |
Aleksandrov was the first Bulgarian cosmonaut to visit a space station. Mohmand was the first Afghan cosmonaut. |
Soyuz TM-5 launched on 1988 June 7 and arrived at Mir on June 9 carrying the second Bulgarian in space, Alexandrov (not to be confused with the Soviet cosmonaut of the same name). He became the first Bulgarian to reach a Soviet space station (Georgi Ivanov failed to reach Salyut 6 on Soyuz 33 in 1979—Alexandrov was his backup). Their launch had been advanced by 2 weeks late in the planning stages to improve lighting conditions for the Rozhen astronomical experiment.
On September 5 cosmonauts Lyakhov and Mohmand undocked from Mir. They jettisoned the orbital module and made ready for deorbit burn to return to Earth. During descent, the spacecraft experienced a computer software problem combined with a sensor problem.[3] This caused their landing to be delayed by a full day. The Descent Module, where they spent this 24-hour period, had no sanitary facilities. Consequently, they soiled themselves. [4] They would not have been able to redock with Mir because they had discarded the docking system along with the orbital module.[4] Reentry occurred as normal on September 7. Following this incident, the Soviets decided that on future missions, they would retain the orbital module until after deorbit burn, as they had done on the Soyuz Ferry flights.[4]
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 |
← 1987 · Orbital launches in 1988 · 1989 → | |
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Kosmos 1908 | Kosmos 1909 · Kosmos 1910 · Kosmos 1911 · Kosmos 1912 · Kosmos 1913 · Kosmos 1914 | Gorizont No.25L | Progress 34 | Kosmos 1915 | Meteor-2 No.20 | USA-29 | Kosmos 1916 | USA-30 | Kosmos 1919 · Kosmos 1917 · Kosmos 1918 | Kosmos 1920 | Kosmos 1921 | Sakura 3a | Kosmos 1922 | Zhongxing-1 | Kosmos 1923 | Kosmos 1924 · Kosmos 1925 · Kosmos 1926 · Kosmos 1927 · Kosmos 1928 · Kosmos 1929 · Kosmos 1930 · Kosmos 1931 | Molniya-1 No.65 | Spacenet 3R · Telecom 1C | Kosmos 1932 | Kosmos 1933 | IRS-1A | Molniya-1 No.64 | Kosmos 1934 | Progress 35 | Kosmos 1935 | San Marco 5 | Kosmos 1936 | Gorizont No.26L | Kosmos 1937 | Kosmos 1938 | Foton No.4L | Kosmos 1939 | Transit-O 23 · Transit-O 32 | Kosmos 1940 | Kosmos 1941 | Ekran No.31L | Kosmos 1942 | Progress 36 | Kosmos 1943 | Intelsat VA F-13 | Kosmos 1944 | Kosmos 1945 | Kosmos 1946 · Kosmos 1947 · Kosmos 1948 | Molniya-3 No.49 | Kosmos 1949 | Kosmos 1950 | Kosmos 1951 | Soyuz TM-5 | Kosmos 1952 | Kosmos 1953 | Meteosat 3 · PAS-1 · OSCAR-13 | Nova 2 | Kosmos 1954 | Kosmos 1955 | Kosmos 1956 | Okean-O1 No.5 | Kosmos 1957 | Fobos 1 | Unnamed | Fobos 2 | SROSS-B | Kosmos 1958 | Progress 37 | Kosmos 1959 | INSAT-1C · ECS-5 | Meteor-3 No.3 | Resurs-F1 No.30 | Kosmos 1960 | Kosmos 1961 | Fanhui Shi Weixing I-02 | Kosmos 1962 | Molniya-1 No.66 | Kosmos 1963 | Gorizont No.28L | Kosmos 1964 | Kosmos 1965 | Transit-O 25 · Transit-O 31 | Soyuz TM-6 | Kosmos 1966 | USA-31 | USA-32 | Kosmos 1967 | Fengyun I-01 | GStar-3 · SBS-5 | Kosmos 1968 | Progress 38 | Kosmos 1969 | Kosmos 1970 · Kosmos 1971 · Kosmos 1972 | Sakura 3b | Ofek-1 | Kosmos 1973 | NOAA-11 | Molniya-3 No.51 | STS-26 (TDRS-3) | Kosmos 1974 | Kosmos 1975 | Kosmos 1976 | Gran' No.34L | Kosmos 1977 | Kosmos 1978 | TDF 1 | USA-33 | Unnamed | Buran 1K1 (37KB No.3770) | Kosmos 1979 | Kosmos 1980 | Kosmos 1981 | Soyuz TM-7 | Kosmos 1982 | STS-27 (USA-34) | Kosmos 1983 | Ekran-M No.12L | Skynet 4B · Astra 1A | Kosmos 1984 | Zhongxing-2 | Molniya-3 No.52 | Kosmos 1985 | Progress 39 | Molniya-1 No.63 | Kosmos 1986 | |
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). |