Soyuz TM-13 crew (L-R): Toktar Aubakirov, Alexander Volkov, Franz Viehbock
Mission patch
Soyuz TM-13 launched October 2, 1991 with an Austrian astronaut and a Kazakh astronaut. Its crew consisted of Commander Alexander Volkov, Toktar Aubakirov, and Franz Viehbock. Viehbock was the first astronaut from Austria to venture into space. Toktar Aubakirov was from Kazakhstan (although not an independent country at the time), and Russia hoped by carrying a Kazakh astronaut, his country would continue to allow them to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Viehbock and Aubakirov stayed aboard Mir for only about a week and returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-12.
Volkov remained on Mir for 175 days and returned on March 25, 1992 with Sergei Krikalev and Klaus-Dietrich Flade. Volkov and Krikalev were considered the "last citizens of the USSR" since they had launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (a part of the USSR) and landed in the independent Republic of Kazakhstan.
No comments:
Post a Comment