Soyuz TM-18

Soyuz TM-18 was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome and landed 112 km north of Arkalyk. TM-18 was a two-day solo flight that docked with the Mir space station on January 10, 1994. The three cosmonauts became the 15th resident crew on board Mir. The crew did research work in space flight medicine, primarily by cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov during his long-term flight, and accomplished 25 different experiments.

Soyuz TM-18

Mission type	Mir crew transport
Operator	Rosaviakosmos
COSPAR ID	1994-001A
SATCAT no.	22957
Mission duration	182 days, 27 minutes, 1 second
Orbits completed	~2,910
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz 7K-STM No. 67
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-TM
Manufacturer	NPO Energia
Launch mass	7,150 kilograms (15,760 lb)
Crew
Crew size	3 up 2 down
Members	Viktor Afanasyev Yury Usachov
Launching	Valeri Polyakov
Callsign	Дербе́нт (Derbent)
Start of mission
Launch date	January 8, 1994, 10:05:34 (1994-01-08UTC10:05:34Z) UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U2
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date	July 9, 1994, 10:32:35 (1994-07-09UTC10:32:36Z) UTC
Landing site	110 kilometres (68 mi) north of Arkalyk
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	384 kilometres (239 mi)
Apogee altitude	390 kilometres (240 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Period	92.29 minutes
Epoch	7 February 1994390 kilometres (240 mi)
Docking with Mir
Docking port	Kvant-1 aft
Docking date	10 January 1994, 11:50:20 UTC
Undocking date	9 July 1994, 07:12:59 UTC
Soyuz programme (Crewed missions)

Crew

Position	Launching crew	Landing crew
Commander	Viktor Afanasyev Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Yury Usachov First spaceflight
Research Cosmonaut	Valeri Polyakov Second and last spaceflight	None

Mission highlights

18th expedition to Mir.

Afanasyev and Usachev spent 179 days on Mir. Dr. Polyakov was slated to return to Earth on Soyuz-TM 20 in March 1995, after more than 420 days on Mir.

See also

• Timeline of longest spaceflights

References

• Spacefacts.de: Soyuz TM-18