Mir EO-12
Mir EO-12 was the twelfth manned expedition to the space station Mir, lasting from July 1992 until February 1993. The crew, consisting of Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Sergei Avdeyev launched aboard Soyuz TM-15 on 27 July 1992 with French Research Cosmonaut Michel Tognini. After remaining on board Mir for just over six months, Solovyev and Avdeyev returned aboard the same spacecraft on 1 February 1993.
Their mission focused on geophysics, materials science, biotechnology, astronomy and medical experiments. Soyuz TM-15 set a Soyuz spacecraft on orbit endurance record.
Crew
Mir EO-12 | Name | Spaceflight | Launch | Landing | Duration |
Commander | Anatoly Solovyev | Third | 27 July 1992 Soyuz TM-15 | 1 February 1993 Soyuz TM-15 | 188.90 days |
Flight Engineer | Sergei Avdeyev | First | 27 July 1992 Soyuz TM-15 | 1 February 1993 Soyuz TM-15 | 188.90 days |
Backup crew
Mir EO-12 | Name |
Commander | Gennadi Manakov |
Flight Engineer | Aleksandr Poleshchuk |
This crew flew the Soyuz TM-16 spacecraft.
Mission highlights
Crew launch and arrival
The Mir EO-12 crew were launched aboard Soyuz TM-15 on 27 July 1992 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome together with CNES spationaut Michel Tognini of France. They were inserted into a 190 x 200 km, 51.6° inclination orbit. After rendezvous manoeuvring they docked they with Mir in its 405 x 410 km orbit two days later on 29 July.For the next two weeks the scientific work of the EO-11 crew continued together with the programme of Michel Tognini's Antares mission. They departed Mir aboard Soyuz TM-14 on 9 August, leaving the EO-12 crew to continue operations.
Mission operations
The EO-12 crew commenced their research programme. On 14 August Progress M-14 arrived and docked at the Kvant-1 port. It carried a 700 kg VDU thruster unit designed to improve Mir's attitude control capability. On 3 September the two cosmonauts performed the first of three EVAs to install the VDU on the end of the 14 m long Sofora girder on Kvant-1. EVAs on 7 and 11 September continued and completed this assignment. On their fourth and final EVA on 15 September the cosmonauts repositioned the Kurs rendezvous and docking system antenna and retrieved experimental samples. Progress M-14 departed on 21 October carrying 150 kg of research material. The Progress M-15 re-supply craft arrived on 29 October and docked at Kvant-1.The derelict 550 kg Cosmos 1508 satellite passed within 300 m of Mir on 8 November. On 20 November the 16.5 kg MAK-2 satellite, was deployed from the Mir core module experimental airlock. This was produced by the Moscow Aviation Institute to study Earth's ionosphere.