Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing
136 km east of Dzheskasgan.
It concerned the mission to MIR'92. After
a two day solo flight Soyuz TM-14 docked on March 19, 1992 to the complex
Soyuz
TM-13-Kvant1-MIR-Kristall-Kvant2. Within the scope of the mission MIR'92
the
tenth resident
crew performed scientific works in which Klaus-Dietrich
Flade was particulary involved. He undertook 14 German
experiments as a part of the preparation for the future space station projects
and Columbus in the areas of Medicine, biology, physics and material research.
Thus thermo-dynamic qualities of different substances were investigated in the
physical test programme TES. Medical investigations related changes in the
genome (chromosome analysis), the sleep-wake cycle and the assessment of
physical and mental performance, the study of the function of vestibular and
orientation ability, furthermore the recording of eye movements during changes
of the position, the performance of short term memory, the distribution of body
fluids in the muscles and vessels (use of the negative pressure-suit TSCHIBIS)
and the hormonal regulation of the human organism (blood and saliva samples).
Material Scientific tests consisted mainly in the breeding of pure crystals.
The main objective of the mission was the planned replacement of the
resident crew. Aleksandr
Kaleri and Aleksandr
Viktorenko formed the
eleventh resident
crew. It was the first space flight since the end of the USSR and Russia's
first space flight. It was also the first joint space flight of Russia and
Germany.
Aleksandr
Kaleri and Aleksandr
Viktorenko carried out the only
EVA
during this mission on July 08, 1992 (2h 03m). There was an exit inspection to
assess the space station MIR.
The
eleventh resident crew
of the MIR space station undertook experiments on materials research, space
technology, astrophysics and earth observation during its nearly five-month
mission. They bred super pure gallium arsenide crystals with the new system
GRANAT on board of the crystal module, observed the exact composition of the
cabin air in a long-time experiment, and studied the influence of movements of
the astronauts to microgravity. Furthermore, they carried out astronomical
observations in the ultraviolet and X-ray range. As part of the research
program EARTH recordings of North Africa, North and South America, the Pacific
and Australia were taken with the camera KFA 1000. With the topographical
three-channel camera KATE 140 they also made photographic images of parts of
Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Related to geological activity in the south of
Ukraine the multichannel spectrometer MKS 2M (19 channels in the wavelength
range between 415 nm and 1030 nm) was used. Further research concerned the
crystal growth, the erosion of different materials by atomic oxygen, the injury
of living cells by cosmic rays, the crystallization of biological
macromolecules and the influence of artificial gravity on the growth of plants.
With the multispectral camera
MKF
6MA high-resolution images of the surface of the earth were made. Thanks to
these recordings statements about environmental pollution, the suspected
deposits of certain minerals or crop forecasts are possible.
Supplies
and new experimental facilities came with the cargo spacecraft Progress M-12
and M-13.
