Soyuz TM-3

USSR

Manned Flight nº: 117

Earth orbit Flight nº: 114

USSR Flight nº: 63

Launch & orbit data:

Designation	18222 / 87063A
Launch date - time	22 Jul 1987 - 01:59:17 UT
Launch site	Baikonur, LC1
Launch vehicle	Soyuz 11A511U2
OKB name - S/N°	Soyuz 7K-STM (11F732) n° 53
Mass (kg)	7.100
Flight Crew (EP-1)	Viktorenko, Aleksandr (CDR) Aleksandrov, Aleksandr (FE) Faris, Mohammed (CR)
Call Sign	Vityaz (Knight )
Earth orbit on :
- Perigee / Apogee	297 / 353 km
- Inclination	51.6°
- Period	91.0 min

Docking & landing data:

Docking date - time	24 Jul 1987 - 03:31:23 UT
Target spacecraft/port	Kvant/
Undocking date - time	29 Dec 1987 - 05:58 UT
Deorbit burn date - time	29 Dec 1987 - 08:21 UT
Landing date - time	29 Dec 1987 - 09:16:15 UT
Landing location	51°N, 68°E
Flight Duration (d:hr:min)	160:07:17
Nbr orbits	2537
Landing crew	Romanenko Y., Aleksandrov A., Levchenko (crew TM-2, TM-3 &TM-4)

Viktorenko and Faris landed with Soyuz TM-2 on 30 Jul 1987.
Aleksandrov landed with Soyuz TM-3-spacecraft.

Crew

Nr.	Surname	Given name	Job	Duration	Orbits
1	Viktorenko	Aleksandr Stepanovich	Commander	7d 23h 05m	126
2	Aleksandrov	Aleksandr Pavlovich	Flight engineer	160d 07h 17m	2537
3	Faris	Muhammed Achmed	Research cosm. - Syria	7d 23h 05m	126

Note: Mohammed Faris is the second Arab in space.

Backup Crew

Nr.	Name	Job
1	Solovyev, Anatoli Y.	Commander
2	Savinykh, Viktor P.	Flight engineer
3	Habib, Munir H.	Research cosm.

2nd Backup crew: Volkov A. & Kaleri A.

Manned three crew. Transported to the Mir orbital space station a Soviet-Syrian crew comprising cosmonauts A S Viktorenko, A P Aleksandrov and M A Faris to conduct joint research and experiments with cosmonauts Y Romanenko and A Laveykin. Maneuvered from initial 231 X 217 km orbit to Mir's 311 X 359 km orbit. Docked with rear Mir port at 3:30 GMT 24 July. Undocked with rear port 30 July and docked to forward port. Undocked 05:55 GMT 29 December. Returned Aleksandrov, Yuri Romanenko (Soyuz TM-2), Anatoly Levchenko (Soyuz TM-4) to Earth. Recovered December 29, 1987 09:16 GMT. Landed near Arkalyk.

Mission details

Launch from Baikonur; landing with Soyuz TM-2-spacecraft 80 km northeast of Arkalyk; docking on MIR-spacestation; partly crew exchange (Aleksandrov stayed on MIR); photography of Earth surface (main object: Syria).

A view from Soyuz TM-2 of Mir/Kvant-1 module and Soyuz TM-3 docked

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Baikonur, special cancel.

Cosmic Mail: Syrian launch cancel: 22.07.87 and Russian docking cancel: 24 07 87. Mir black boardcancel, signed by Viktorenko, Alexandrov and Faris.

Cosmic Mail: Syrian launch cancel: 22.07.87 and Russian docking cancel: 24 07 87 and Moscou cancel 30 07 87, signed by the crew. Credit: #409

Special docking cancel Moscou.

Romanenko, Alexandrov and Levchenko returned in the Soyuz TM-3 capsule; landing cancel Arkalyk and signed by the crew.

Landing cancel on Progress 31 cover.

Ref.: #1, #7, #8, #10, #16, #210, #409 - update: 11.10.25

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