Soyuz TM-11 crew (L-R): Toyohiro Akiyama, Viktor Afanasyev, Musa Manarov
Mission patch
Soyuz TM-11, launched December 2, 1990, was the 11th expedition to the space station Mir. Its crew consisted of Commander Viktor Afanasyev, Musa Manarov, and Toyohiro Akiyama (a Japanese reporter).
The cosmonauts remained on board until May 26, 1991, when they returned to Earth with Helen Sharman, a British astronaut. Akiyama returned to Earth December 10, 1990 aboard Soyuz TM-10.
Helen Sharman, born May 30, 1963 in Yorkshire, England, is the first British cosmonaut and first woman to visit the Mir space station. She launched aboard Soyuz TM-12 in May 1991. She was part of Project Juno, a cooperative project sponsored by private enterprises in Britain and by the Soviet government. Her experiments were mainly life sciences, since she had a PhD in chemistry. After about 7 days, she returned to Earth May 26 aboard Soyuz TM-11.
Musa Manarov, born March 22, 1951 in Baku, Azerbaijan, is the first citizen from his country to go into space.
His first mission to space was as flight engineer aboard Soyuz TM-4 to Mir in December 1987. He was part of the Mir EO-3 expedition, which lasted until the following December, spending 366 days in space. He returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-6.
His second mission was aboard Soyuz TM-11 in December 1990 to Mir. He was part of the Mir EO-8 expedition and returned to Earth May 1991.
Rakesh Sharma, born January 13, 1949 in India, is the first Indian cosmonaut, who went into space aboard Soyuz TM-11, April 3, 1984. He is the only Indian citizen to travel in space. He spent over 7 days in space and returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-10 April 11, 1984.
Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev, born December 31, 1948 (same day as Donna Summer!) in Bryansk, Russia, is a cosmonaut who has visited both Mir and the International Space Station. From 1985-1987 he took space training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and flew his first mission on Soyuz TM-11, which launched December 2, 1990. He spent 175 days on Mir as part of the eighth manned expedition (EO-8) returning May 1991.
Afanasyev was commander of Soyuz TM-18 from January-July 1994 as part of the EO-15 crew. This time he spent 182 days on Mir.
His third flight was as commander on Soyuz TM-29, which launched February 1999 to Mir for the EO-27 crew. He returned to Earth in August after 188 days in space.
His fourth and last flight was on Soyuz TM-33 to the International Space Station in October 2001 as commander and returned later that month on Soyuz TM-32.
He has conducted 7 EVAs for a total of over 38 hours and has logged 545 days in space.
Soyuz TM-10 crew: Gennadi Manakov (L) and Gennady Strekalov
Soyuz TM-10, the tenth mission to the Soviet space station Mir, blasted off August 1, 1990. It was Commander Gennadi Manakov's first flight and Flight Engineer Gennady Strekalov's fourth. They took off with one passenger, but by the time they got to Mir, they had two. A quail, which was aboard for some experiments, had laid an egg before they reached the station.
The quail and Toyohiro Akiyama, a reporter and the first Japanese in space, returned with the cosmonauts in December 1990 aboard Soyuz TM-11.
I could not find any videos of Soyuz TM-10 on Youtube, but here is the launch of Soyuz TM-11 which took Akiyama into space.
Toyohiro Akiyama, born in June 22, 1942 Tokyo, Japan, is the first person of Japanese descent to travel into space. He flew aboard Soyuz TM-11, launched December 2, 1990 and spent almost 8 days in space, giving live reports daily from Mir. He returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-10 December 10.
Unfortunately, Akiyama had to evacuate his farm which was affected by the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Dr. Helen Sharman, a food chemist for Mars Company in England, answered a radio advertisement to be the first British astronaut, no experience required.
Who knew being an astronaut was a walk-on job?
A mere 18 months after being selected, Sharman blasted off with fellow cosmonauts Anatoly Artsebarsky and Sergei Krikalev in Soyuz TM-12 May 18, 1991. She spent 8 days in space, conducting medical and agricultural experiments, taking pictures and talking on the radio to school children. She returned on Soyuz TM-11 with cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev and Musa Manarov.
