science

Soyuz TM-4

Soyuz TM-4 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Soyuz TM-4 rather than just read about it. In short: Soyuz TM-4 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight to Mir. It was launched on 21 December 1987, and carried the first two crew members of the third long duration expedition, Mir EO-3.

Key takeaways

Soyuz TM-4 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Soyuz TM-4 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soyuz TM-4 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Soyuz TM-4 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight to Mir. It was launched on 21 December 1987, and carried the first two crew members of the third long duration expedition, Mir EO-3. These crew members, Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov, would stay in space for just under 366 days, setting a new spaceflight record. The third astronaut launched by Soyuz TM-4 was Anatoli Levchenko, who returned to Earth about a week later with the remaining crew of Mir EO-2. Levchenko was a prospective pilot for the Soviet Space shuttle Buran. The purpose of his mission, named Mir LII-1, was to familiarize him with spaceflight. It was the fourth Soyuz TM spacecraft to be launched (one of which was uncrewed), and like other Soyuz spacecraft, it was treated as a lifeboat for the station's crew while docked. In June 1988, part way through EO-3, Soyuz TM-4 was swapped for Soyuz TM-5 as the station's lifeboat. The mission which swapped the spacecraft was known as Mir EP-2, and had a three-person crew.

Crew

Titov and Manarov were members of the long duration mission Mir EO-3, and returned to Earth just over a full year later, in Soyuz TM-6. Levchenko, on the other hand, returned to Earth about a week later in Soyuz TM-3. In June 1988, Soyuz TM-4 landed the three-man crew of Mir EP-2, after their 9-day stay on the station; that crew included the second Bulgarian astronaut Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov.

Backup crew

Mission parameters Mass: 7070 kg Perigee: 337 km Apogee: 357 km Inclination: 51.6° Period: 91.5 minutes

Mission highlights Fourth crewed spaceflight to Mir. Manarov and Titov (known by their callsign as the "Okeans") replaced Romanenko and Alexandrov. Anatoli Levchenko was a cosmonaut in the Buran shuttle program. Levchenko returned with Romanenko and Alexandrov in Soyuz TM-3. Before departing Mir, Romanenko and Alexandrov demonstrated use of EVA equipment to the Okeans. The Okeans delivered biological experiments, including the Aynur biological crystal growth apparatus, which they installed in Kvant-1. The combined crews conducted an evacuation drill, with the Mir computer simulating an emergency. Titov and Manarov conducted part of an ongoing survey of galaxies and star groups in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum using the Glazar telescope on Kvant. The survey required photography with exposure times up to 8 min. Even small cosmonaut movements could shake the complex. This produced blurring of astronomical images, so all cosmonaut movements had to be stopped during the exposures.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soyuz TM-4

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soyuz TM-4 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Soyuz TM-4 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Soyuz TM-4 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Soyuz TM-4

In research: Soyuz TM-4 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Soyuz TM-4 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Soyuz TM-4 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1987 in spaceflight, 1987 in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria–Soviet Union relations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Soyuz TM-4 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Soyuz TM-4 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soyuz TM-4 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Soyuz TM-4 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soyuz TM-4 in simple terms?

Soyuz TM-4 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight to Mir. It was launched on 21 December 1987, and carried the first two crew members of the third long duration expedition, Mir EO-3.

Why does Soyuz TM-4 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Soyuz TM-4?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Soyuz TM-4.