Soyuz TM-8

Infobox Space mission
mission_name = Soyuz TM-8
spacecraft_name =
shuttle =
insignia =
sign = Ви́тязь (Vityaz - Knight)
crew_members = 2
launch_pad =
launch = September 5, 1989
21:38:03 UTC
Gagarin's Start
begin_spacewalk =
end_spacewalk =
landing = February 19, 1990
04:36:18 UTC
55 km NE of Arkalyk
duration = 166 days 06 hours 58 minutes 15 seconds
orbits = ~2,680 | apogee = 392 km
perigee = 390 km
period = 92.4 minutes
altitude =
inclination = 51.6°
distance =
mass = 7150 kg
crew_photo =
crew_caption =
previous = Soyuz TM-7
next = Soyuz TM-9 |

Soyuz TM-8 was the eighth expedition to the Russian Space Station Mir.

Crew

*Alexander Viktorenko (2) - Russian
*Aleksandr Serebrov (3) - Russian

(1) number of spaceflights each crew member has completed, including this mission.

Mission highlights

The Soyuz launch vehicle was painted with advertisements. During the Soyuz spacecraft's final approach to Mir (4 metre distance), the Kurs rendezvous and docking system malfunctioned, so Viktorenko took over manual control and withdrew to 20 metres, and then docked manually. The spacecraft spent 166 days attached to Mir.

On 1989 September 29 the cosmonauts installed equipment in the docking system in preparation for the arrival of Kvant 2, the first of Mir’s 20-tonne add-on modules. On September 30 a powerful flare burst out on the Sun, and initial predictions indicated that the cosmonauts could receive many times the maximum permissible level of radiation. In the event, the cosmonauts received only about as much radiation as they would normally receive in2 weeks of flight.

It was announced on October 10 that problems with a batch of computer chips pushed back the launch of Mir’s second add-on module by at least 40 days from the planned October 16 launch date. The major focus of Viktorenko and Serebrov’s mission was to receive, check out, and activate the module, so their schedule underwent heavy revision.