Image: Soviet space program, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Soyuz TM-13
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 1991-10-02 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 |
| Launch vehicle | Soyuz-U2 |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz 7K-STM No. 63 (Soyuz-TM) |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 1992-03-25 |
| Duration | Viehböck: 7 days 22 hours; spacecraft: 175 days 2 hours |
| Partners | Soviet Union, Austria, Kazakhstan |
Overview
Soyuz TM-13 was the final crewed launch of the Soviet Union, carrying Austria's first astronaut, electrical engineer Franz Viehböck, on the Austromir-91 mission for which Vienna paid around $7 million. It also carried Toktar Aubakirov, the first Kazakh in space, who launched from his own homeland as the republic stood on the brink of independence. Lifting off on 2 October 1991 under commander Alexander Volkov, the crew reached Mir on 4 October, where Viehböck ran more than a dozen Austrian materials, physics and space-medicine experiments. Both guest cosmonauts returned after roughly a week aboard Soyuz TM-12. Volkov stayed on as the Mir EO-10 commander and, with Sergei Krikalev, did not come home until 25 March 1992, by which time the USSR had dissolved: the two men launched as Soviet citizens but landed in the newly independent Republic of Kazakhstan.
Crew
Alexander Volkov
Commander (up/down)
Third spaceflight; Mir EO-10 resident; landed March 1992
Toktar Aubakirov
Research Cosmonaut (up)
First Kazakh in space; returned aboard Soyuz TM-12
Franz Viehböck
Research Cosmonaut (up)
First Austrian in space; Austromir-91; returned aboard Soyuz TM-12
Sergei Krikalev
Flight Engineer (down)
Mir EO-9/EO-10; returned aboard TM-13 after an extended stay
Klaus-Dietrich Flade
Research Cosmonaut (down)
Germany (DLR); flew up on TM-14, returned aboard TM-13
Key Milestones
1991-10-02
Final Soviet crewed launch: Volkov, Kazakhstan's Aubakirov and Austria's Viehböck lift off from Baikonur
1991-10-04
Docking with the Mir space station; Austromir-91 experiments begin
1991-10-10
Aubakirov and Viehböck return to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-12
1992-03-25
Soyuz TM-13 lands Volkov and Krikalev, 'the last Soviet citizens', in independent Kazakhstan
Key Achievements
First Austrian in space (Franz Viehböck, Austromir-91)
First Kazakh in space (Toktar Aubakirov)
Last crewed spaceflight launched by the Soviet Union
