Soyuz TM-23

USSR

Manned Flight nº: 186

Earth orbit Flight nº: 183

USSR Flight nº: 83

Launch & orbit data:

Designation	23798 / 96011A
Launch date - time	21 Feb 1996 - 12:34:05 UT
Launch site	Baikonur, LC1
Launch vehicle	Soyuz 11A511U(# 651)
OKB name - S/Nº	Soyuz 7K-STM (11F732) s/nº 72
Mass (kg)	7.150
Flight Crew	Onufriyenko, Yuri (CDR) Usachyov, Yuri (FE)
Call Sign	Skif-1 & Skif-2 (Roman-age tribe)
Earth orbit on :
- Perigee / Apogee	375 / 390 km
- Inclination	51.7°
- Period	92.2 min

Docking & landing data:

Docking date - time	23 Feb 1996 - 14:20:35 UT
Target spacecraft/port	Mir/Kvant
Undocking date - time	02 Sep 1996 - 04:20:00 UT
Deorbit burn date - time	02 Sep 1996 - 06:47:20 UT
Landing date - time	02 Sep 1996 - 07:41:40 UT
Landing location	107 km SW of Arkalyk (50° 17' N, 70° 50' E)
Flight Duration (d:hr:min)	194:19:08
Nbr orbits
Landing crew	Onufrienko, Usachev, André-Deshays (crew TM-23 & TM-24)

Launch Crew (EO-21):

Nr.	Surname	Given name	Job	Duration	Orbits
1	Onufriyenko	Yuri Ivanovich	Commander	193d 19h 07m	3066
2	Usachyov	Yuri Vladimirovich	Flight engineer	193d 19h 07m	3066

Backup Crew

Nr.	Name	Job
1	Tsibliyev, Vasili V.	Commander
2	Lazutkin, Aleksandr I.	Flight engineer

Mir over New Zealand - Credit: NASA.

French Cassiopeiae Mission Logo - Credit: NASA.

Mission details:

Launch of the EO-21 crew, Yuri Ivanovich Onufrienko and Yuri Vladimirovich Usachyov (callsign Skif-1 and Skif-2) took place on Feb 21, 1996. At 1300 UTC Soyuz TM-23 was in a 200 x 233 km x 51.6 deg orbit.
Soyuz TM-23 docked with Mir at 14:20:35 on Feb 23. The new crew of Yuriy Onufrienko and Yuriy Usachyov are working aboard the station. The Mir complex is in a 390 x 398 km x 51.6 deg orbit.
both cosmonauts performed six EVA′s on 15.03.1996 (5h 51m), 20.05.1996 (5h 20m), 24.05.1996 (5h 43m), 30.05.1996 (4h 20m), 06.06.1996 (3h 34m) and 13.06.1996 (5h 42m) carrying out following work: installation of the telescopic boom, the MSCA solar array, the multi-spectral scanner, exchanging materials samples and deploying of a radar antenna; protein crystal growth experiments; more experiments in materials science using high temperture melting oven "Optizon"; module "Priroda" arrived on 26.04.1996; supplies arrived with cargo spacecraft Progress M-31; crew was visited by crew of STS-76; since that time (24.03.1996) U.S. astronaut Shannon Lucid completed resident crew.
Soyuz TM-23 undocked from Mir on September 02 at 04:20 GMT, and made a small seperation burn at 04:24:40 GMT. Deorbit was at 06:47:20 GMT . The three modules separated at 07:14:36 and the parachute deployed at 07:26 GMT. The landing was at 07:41:40 GMT, 100 km SW of Akmola in Kazakstan with Yuri Onufrienko, Yuriy Usachyov and Claudie Andre-Deshays. This concluded the French ′Cassiopee′ mission.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Baikonur and special mission cancel, send registrated and signed by the crew. Special Kazakstan stamps instead of Russian.

Cosmic Mail: Cover with new red Mir boardcancel, docking date boardcancel: 230296 and undocking date boardcancel: 020996, signed by the complete crew TM-23 and STS-76.

Cosmic Mail: Red Mir and black boardcancels, 6 different octagonal cancels from the differents EVA's.

Cosmic Mail: 35 y Anniversairy Gagarin flight, signed by crew

Ref.: #7(JR277-278,298), #8, #10, #16, #210 - update: 21.11.25

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