glenn@LL-VLSI.ARPA (Glenn Chapman) (08/30/88)
The USSR launched the Soyuz TM-6 "Afghan" mission to the Mir space station
between 8:23-8:25 am Moscow Daylight Time (0:23-25 EDT) today (Aug 29). On
board were Col. Vladimir Lyahkov, mission commander (age 47; Soviet Air Force;
2 previous flights: Soyuz 32 in Feb '79 for 175 on Salyut 6 and Soyuz T9 in
June '83 for 149 days on Salyut 7), Dr. Penkov? (Age 36; first flight - sorry
the radio was noisy so that is the best guess at his name), and
Capt. Abdol Ahad (Afghanistan Air Force guest cosmonaut). The Mission will
dock with Mir on Aug. 31, and be returning to earth on Sept. 6. The purpose
is to observe Afghan territory for the Afghans (the joke running around
is that he to observe the Soviet troop withdrawal).
On the Mir/Kvant complex they will be joining Vladimir Titov and
Musahi Manarov who have now been up for more than 9 months (253 days). This
already makes them the 2nd longest duration space crew, exceeding the
Soyuz T-10B crew 237 mission on board Salyut 7 in Oct. 1984 (set by
Leonid Kizim, Validimir Soloyev and Oleg Atkov). The are closing in on the
326 day record set by Yuri Romanenko last December. By comparison the maximum
space time of any active US astronauts is held by John Young with
34 days experience and Paul Weitz (Skylab 2 & STS-9) with 33
days (all higher time ones have left the program). The longest US time ever
was the 84 days of the Skylab 4 three man crew in Nov. '73. Indeed Manarov and
Titov have individually accumulated more time than the combined
total Skylab 4 crew. Note: the beginning of August marked the 10th anniversary
of the date when Soviet cosmonauts exceeded the US in manned space experience.
There are several interesting things about this mission. First the
actual crew makeup was not announced in advance. Indeed the Afghan who flew,
Capt. Ahad, was second in line several months ago behind Col. Mohammad Dauran.
Does this mean this Soyuz TM-6 group was the backup crew? Next they did not
broadcast the flight live on short wave, though the announcement was made about
2 minutes after takeoff. CNN showed the flight about 10 minutes later. Most
recent flights have gone out live - suffering from lack of audience? Also has
been statements to the effect that the doctor will not be coming down on Sept 6,
but will stay up to check over Manarov and Titov. But when will he come down?
The guest cosmonaut - French mission is set for Nov. 21 (date just announced).
They will come down about Dec 23, with Manarov and Titov plus
Jean-Loup Chretien (the probable Frenchman). That leaves no room for the
doctor, who would have to come down about two months later, at the next
landing window in late February (ie. a 5 month mission minimum).
Two other points. First they have said now several times on short wave
that a new Energia is on the pad (without the shuttle). Launch date is not
given, nor is the cargo. Secondly, there is the tale that singer John Denver
is about to purchase a mission to Mir for himself for $10 million (with the
first live TV special by a "star" from space?). That is the current going
rate for a manned flight to their station.
The Soviet space program is clearly into the operational space station
phase. Their crews carry out the business of a permanently manned outpost
in orbit without much fanfare. Here we get lovely paintings of what tomorrows
space station will look like. Yet only now is Congress giving the funds to
do some of this work (the $900 million for this year). Still there are those
calling for us to study yet again what to build. While others act we debate.
Glenn Chapman
MIT Lincoln Lab