Soyuz TM-15

Soyuz TM-15 was the 15th expedition to the Mir space station. It included spationaut Michel Tognini from France. The Soyuz TM-15 flight set what was then a new Soyuz spacecraft on orbit endurance record.

Soyuz TM-15

Operator	Rosaviakosmos
COSPAR ID	1992-046A
SATCAT no.	22054
Mission duration	188 days, 21 hours, 41 minutes, 15 seconds
Orbits completed	~3,070
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz 7K-STM No. 65
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-TM
Manufacturer	NPO Energia
Launch mass	7,150 kilograms (15,760 lb)
Crew
Crew size	3 up 2 down
Members	Anatoly Solovyev Sergei Avdeyev
Launching	Michel Tognini
Callsign	Rodnik (Spring)
Start of mission
Launch date	July 27, 1992, 06:08:42 (1992-07-27UTC06:08:42Z) UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U2
End of mission
Landing date	February 1, 1993, 03:49:57 (1993-02-01UTC03:49:58Z) UTC
Landing site	near Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	196 kilometres (122 mi)
Apogee altitude	216 kilometres (134 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Docking with Mir
Docking date	July 29, 1992, 07:49:05 UTC
Undocking date	February 1, 1993, 00:19:47 UTC
Soyuz programme (Crewed missions)

Crew

Position	Launching crew	Landing crew
Commander	Anatoly Solovyev Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Sergei Avdeyev First spaceflight
Research Cosmonaut	Michel Tognini First spaceflight	None

Mission highlights

Michel Tognini, passenger aboard Soyuz- TM 15, was the third Frenchman to visit a space station. He conducted ten experiments using 300 kg of equipment delivered by Progress-M flights. Tognini spent 2 weeks in space as part of ongoing space cooperation between Russia and France.