Page:RP1357.pdf/73

	Soyuz-TM 15	July 27, 1992-February 1, 1993
	Launch crew—Sergei Avdeyev, Anatoli Solovyov, Michel Tognini/France Crew code name—Rodnik Landing crew—Sergei Avdeyev, Anatoli Solovyov Crew code name—Rodnik Tognini spent 3 weeks in space as part of ongoing space cooperation between Russia and France.

	Soyuz-TM 16	January 24-July 22, 1993
	Launch crew—Gennadi Manakov, Alexandr Poleshchuk Crew code name—Elbrus Landing crew—Gennadi Manakov, Alexandr Poleschuk, Jean-Pierre Hagniere/France Crew code name—Elbrus First Soyuz without a probe and drogue docking system since 1976. It carried an APAS-89 androgynous docking unit (see figure 3-13) different from the APAS-75 unit (see figure 1-22) used for ASTP in 1975, yet similar in general principles. Soyuz-TM 16 used it to dock with an androgynous docking port on the Kristall module. This was a test of the docking system in preparation for dockings by space shuttles with Mir.

	Soyuz-TM 17	July 1, 1993-January 14, 1994
	Launch crew—Vasili Tsibliyev, Alexandr Serebrov, Jean-Pierre Haignere/France Crew code name—Sirius Landing crew—Vasili Tsibliyev, Alexandr Serebrov Crew code name—Sirius At 7:37:11 a.m. Moscow time (MT), on January 14, Soyuz-TM 17 separated from the forward port of the Mir station. At 7:43:59 a.m., the TsUP ordered Tsibliyev to steer Soyuz-TM 17 to within 15 m of the Kristall module to begin photography of the APAS-89 docking system. At 7:46:20 a.m., Tsibliyev complained that Soyuz-TM 17 was handling sluggishly. Serebrov, standing by for photography in the orbital module, then asked Tsibliyev to move the spacecraft out of the station plane because it was coming close to one of the solar arrays. In Mir, Viktor Afanasyev ordered Valeri Polyakov and Yuri Usachyov to evacuate to the Soyuz-TM 18 spacecraft. At 7:47:30 a.m., controllers in the TsUP saw the image from Soyuz-TM 17’s external camera shake violently, and Serebrov reported that Soyuz-TM 17 had hit Mir. The TsUP then lost communications with Mir and Soyuz-TM 17. Intermittent communications were restored with Soyuz-TM 17 at 7:52 a.m. Voice communications with Mir were not restored until 8:02 a.m. Inspection of Soyuz-TM 17 indicated no serious damage. In this connection, the Russians revealed that they had studied contingency reentries by depressurized spacecraft in the wake of the Soyuz 11 accident. The Mir cosmonauts did not feel the impact, though the station’s guidance system registered angular velocity and switched to free-