Image: Montage by Erick Soares3, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Soyuz TM-11
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 1990-12-02 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 |
| Launch vehicle | Soyuz-U2 |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz 7K-STM No. 61 (Soyuz-TM) |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 1991-05-26 |
| Duration | Akiyama: 7 days 21 hours; spacecraft: 175 days 1 hour |
| Partners | Soviet Union, Japan, Tokyo Broadcasting System |
Overview
Soyuz TM-11 carried the first journalist into orbit, Tokyo Broadcasting System reporter Toyohiro Akiyama, who was also the first Japanese citizen and the first commercially sponsored person in space. Launching on 2 December 1990 with commander Viktor Afanasyev and flight engineer Musa Manarov, Akiyama filed live daily television broadcasts from Mir for TBS, which paid a reported $14 million for the seat. He famously battled space sickness on air and carried tree frogs aboard for a biology experiment. After about a week he returned with the outgoing EO-7 crew, while Afanasyev and Manarov stayed on as the Mir EO-8 resident crew. The TM-11 ferry remained docked as their lifeboat until 26 May 1991, when it brought them home together with Britain's Helen Sharman, who had arrived days earlier on Soyuz TM-12.
Crew
Vladimir Titov
Commander (up)
Listed in error in some sources; see Afanasyev
Toyohiro Akiyama
Research Cosmonaut (up)
First journalist, first Japanese citizen and first commercially funded person in space; returned on Soyuz TM-10
Helen Sharman
Research Cosmonaut (down)
First Briton in space; flew up on TM-12, returned aboard TM-11
Key Milestones
1990-12-02
Launch from Baikonur with Afanasyev, Manarov and Japan's Toyohiro Akiyama
1990-12-04
Docking with the Mir space station; Akiyama begins live TV broadcasts
1990-12-10
Akiyama returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-10 with the outgoing EO-7 crew
1991-05-26
Soyuz TM-11 lands the EO-8 crew and Helen Sharman near Dzhezkazgan
Key Achievements
First journalist in space
First Japanese citizen in space
First commercially sponsored human spaceflight, funded by TBS
