Crew

Launched:

• Viktor Afanasyev (1)
• Musa Manarov (2)
• Toyohiro Akiyama (1), Reporter-Japan

Landed:

• Viktor Afanasyev (1)
• Musa Manarov (2)
• Helen Sharman (1), U.K.

Mission Parameters

• Mass: 7150 kg
• Perigee: 367 km
• Apogee: 400 km
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 92.2 minutes

Mission Highlights

11th expedition to Mir. Toyohiro Akiyama was a reporter/space tourist for a Japanese television network.

Spent 175 days docked to Mir. Its launch shroud and Soyuz booster were painted with the Japanese flag and advertisements. A camera inside the descent module filmed the cosmonauts during ascent for Akiyama’s network.

Viktor Afanaseyev, Musa Manarov (on his second Mir visit), and Japanese television journalist Toyohiro Akiyama were welcomed aboard Mir by the Vulkans. Akiyama’s network, the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), paid for the flight. The Soviets called this their first commercial spaceflight and claimed to have earned $14 million. The journalist was scheduled to make one 10-min TV broadcast and two 20-min radio broadcasts each day. Electrical power and video and TV system incompatibilities forced the Japanese to make extensive use of converters. His equipment, which weighed about 170 kg, was delivered by Progress-M spacecraft and set up in advance by Manakov and Strekalov. On December 5 Akiyama’s couch was transferred to Soyuz-TM 10. On December 8 Manakov and Strekalov commenced loading Soyuz-TM 10’s descent module with film and experiment results. TBS broadcast Akiyama’s landing live from Kazakhstan.