Soyuz TM-12

USSR

Manned Flight nº: 141

Earth orbit Flight nº: 138

USSR Flight n°: 72

Launch & orbit data:

Designation	21311 / 91034A
Launch date - time	18 May 1991 - 12:50:28 UT
Launch site	Baikonur, LC1
Launch vehicle	Soyuz 11A511U2
OKB name - S/N°	Soyuz 7K-STM (11F732) s/n° 62
Mass (kg)	7.150
Call Sign	Oson (Ozone)
Earth orbit on :
- Perigee / Apogee	389 / 397 km
- Inclination	51.6°
- Period	92.4 min

Docking & landing data:

Docking date - time	20 May 1991 - 14:30:43 UT
Target spacecraft/port	Mir/fore
Undocking date - time
Redocking date - time	UT
Target spacecraft/port	Mir/Kvant
Undocking date - time	09 Oct 1991 - 20:55:08 UT
Deorbit burn date - time
Landing date - time	10 Oct 1991 - 04:12:18 UT
Landing location	67 km SE of Arkalyk
Flight Duration (d:hr:min)	144:15:22
Nbr orbits
Landing crew	Artzebarsky, Aubakirov, Viehböch (crew TM-12 & TM-13)

Krikalev landed with Soyuz TM-13 on 25 Mar 1992
Sharman landed with Soyuz TM-11 on 26 Mai 1991

Launch Crew (EO-9)

Nr.	Surname	Given name	Job	Duration	Orbits
1	Artsebarsky	Anatoli Pavlovich	Commander	144d 15h 21m	2288
2	Krikalyov	Sergei Konstantinovich	Flight engineer	311d 20h 01m	4934
3	Sharman	Helen Patricia	Research cosmonaut	7d 21h 13m	124

Sharman is the first British space traveller and her participation in the mission is part of Project Juno, which is financed by the Moskva Narodniy Bank and has no connection with the British government.

Backup Crew

Nr.	Name	Job
1	Volkov, Aleksandr A.	Commander
2	Kaleri, Aleksandr Y.	Flight engineer
2	Mace, Timothy C.	Research cosm.

2nd Backup crew: Viktorenko Aleksandr S. & Avdeyev Sergei.

Food fight on Mir - Credit: RKK Energia.

Mir Strela - Cosmonaut uses Mir Strela Boom - Credit: RKK Energia.

Mission details:

Soyuz TM-12 was launched on May 18, 1991. The crew are Anatoliy Pavlovich Artsebarskiy (Komandir), Sergey Konstantinovich Krikalyov (Bortinzhener) and Helen Patricia Sharman (Kosmonavt-issledovatel'). Artsebarskiy and Krikalyov are the new Mir main crew.
Docking on Soyuz TM-11-Quant1-MIR-Kristall-Quant2 complex on May 20; scientific experiments together with the eighth resident crew; Artsebarsky and Krikalyov became ninth MIR resident crew; both cosmonauts performed six EVA's on 24.06.1991 (4h 58m), 28.06.1991 (3h 24m), 15.07.1991 (5h 45m), 19.07.1991 (5h 28m), 23.07.1991 (5h 34m) and 27.07.1991 (6h 49m) (assembly of Sofora).
Late on Oct 9, 1991 Artsebarskiy, Aubakirov and Viehbock transferred to Soyuz TM-12 and undocked from the rear Kvant port, landing in Kazakhstan at 0412 UT on Oct 10.

Mir Expedition EO-09. Carried Anatoli Artsebarski, Sergei Krikalev, Helen Sharman to Mir; returned Artsebarski, crew of Soyuz TM 8 to Earth. Second commercial flight with paying British passenger. Sponsoring British consortium was not quite able to come up with money, however. Flight continued at Soviet expense with very limited UK experiments.

Mir EVA - Sfora arm - Cosmonaut on Strela boom silhouted against solar panel. - Credit: RKK Energia.

Soyuz TM-12 - Sharman after landing. - Credit: RKK Energia.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel and special Baikonur cancel.

Cosmic Mail: with octagonal Mir boardcancel and octagonal docking date cancel 200591, signed by the crew.

Ref.: #1, #7(JR74,92), #8, #10, #16, #210 - update: 05.10.18

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