Soyuz TM-21 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight to Mir. The mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket, at 06:11:34 UTC on 14 March 1995. The flight marked the first time thirteen humans were flying in space simultaneously, with three aboard the Soyuz, three aboard Mir and seven aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, flying STS-67.
The spacecraft carried expedition EO-18 to the space station. This included the first American astronaut to launch on a Soyuz spacecraft and board Mir, Norman Thagard, for the American Thagard Increment aboard the station, which was the first Increment of the Shuttle-Mir program. The three crew members it launched were relieved by Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-71, when they were replaced by expedition EO-19. The crew returned to earth aboard Soyuz TM-21 on 11 September 1995.
Crew
Mir Principal Expedition 18
The major objectives of the Mir 18 mission were to conduct joint U.S.-Russian medical research and weightlessness effects investigations and to reconfigure the station for the arrival of the Spektr science module and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The historic mission saw the addition of the first new module (Spektr) since Kristall arrived in 1990, the first American (Thagard) to be part of a Mir crew, and the first docking of a U.S. spacecraft with the Mir space station.
March 1995 – Mir 18 Arrives/Mir 17 Departs
Progress M-26 Undocks for Soyuz TM-21 to Dock
Progress M-26 separated from the complex on 15 March and made a destructive reentry into the Earth's atmosphere to clear the Kvant docking port for the new Soyuz.
July 1995 – Cosmic Ballet
The "Cosmic Ballet"
thumb|First docking of Atlantis with the Mir complex, 4 July 1995. Photographed by Solovyev and Budarin from the temporarily undocked Soyuz TM-21
On 4 July, Solovyev and Budarin donned their flight suits, entered Soyuz TM-21 and undocked from Mir to a station-keeping position from which they photographed Mir and Atlantis, still docked. About 15 minutes later, Atlantis undocked from Mir when Gibson released the hooks that held the two craft together and allowed the docking system springs to nudge Atlantis away. As Atlantis slowly flew around the station, Soyuz TM-21 redocked and the two craft continued to take pictures of each other and Mir.
Mir 19 Ends
Solovyev and Budarin ended their 75-day mission on 11 September, departing the station in the Soyuz TM-21 that had brought the Mir 18 crew up on 16 March. Their Soyuz made a safe landing in Kazakhstan, 302 km northeast of Arkalyk, "far away from the aiming point." Rescue parties, however, found the crew in excellent condition.