Soyuz T-7, launched August 19, 1982, was the third mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Its crew consisted of Commander Leonid Popov, Aleksandr Serebrov and Svetlana Savitskaya. They swapped places with the Salyut 7 crew and remained aboard.
Soyuz T-7 returned to Earth in December 1982 with Anatoli Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev.
Soyuz TM-17 crew (L-R): Vasili Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Serebrov, Jean-Pierre Haignere
Mission patch
Soyuz TM-17, launched July 1, 1993, was the seventeenth mission to the space station Mir. Its crew consisted of Commander Vasili Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Serebrov, and Jean-Pierre Haignere (ESA). The spacecraft struck the station twice about 2 seconds apart, but fortunately neither the Soyuz capsule nor Mir were seriously damaged.
Soyuz TM-8 crew (L-R): Aleksandr Viktorenko, Aleksandr Serebrov
Soyuz TM-8, launched September 5, 1989, carried the fifth crew (Mir EO-5) to the Mir space station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Viktorenko and Aleksandr Serebrov. They spent over 166 days in space, returning to Earth February 1990.
Aleksandr Serebrov, born February 15, 1944 in Moscow, Russia, is a veteran of four space flights. He is one of the few people to fly for both the Soviet and Russian space programs.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz T-7, launched in August 1982 as Flight Engineer to Salyut 7. He returned two and half weeks later aboard Soyuz T-5.
His second mission was aboard Soyuz T-8 as Flight Engineer to Salyut 7 in April 1983. Unfortunately, the spacecraft failed to dock with the space station and returned to Earth two days later.
His third trip was aboard Soyuz TM-8 in September 1989 to Mir as part of expedition Mir EO-5 with fellow cosmonaut Aleksandr Viktorenko. They remained in space for 166 days before returning to Earth in February 1990.
Serebrov's fourth and final flight was aboard Soyuz TM-17, launched in July 1993 to Mir with fellow cosmonaut Vasili Tsibliyev. They remained in space for almost 197 days and returned to Earth in January 1994.
Soyuz T-5, launched May 13, 1982, was the first mission to the new Salyut 7 space station. Its crew consisted of Commander Anatoli Berezovoy and Flight Engineer Valentin Lebedev. While docked with Salyut 7, Soyuz T-6 (with Jean-Loup Chretien, first French astronaut) and Soyuz T-7 (with Svetlana Savitskaya, the first female astronaut in 20 years).
Soyuz T-5 returned to Earth August 27. The return crew consisted of Commander Leonid Popov, Flight Engineer Aleksandr Serebrov and Research Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya.
Soyuz T-8, launched April 20, 1983, tried to dock with Salyut 7, but failed, returning to Earth two days later. Its crew consisted of Commander Vladimir Titov, Flight Engineer Gennady Strekalov and Research Cosmonaut Aleksandr Serebrov.
After they returned to Earth, it was determined that a rendezvous radar antenna boom had been torn off during launch when the payload shroud separated. While in space, the crew believed the antenna boom to be attached but after several attempts to dock with Salyut 7, it was decided to cut the mission short to ensure the crew had enough fuel to return to Earth.
