Soyuz TM-21


Soyuz TM-21 was a Soyuz mission, a human spaceflight mission transporting personnel to the Russian space station Mir. Part of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, the mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket, at 06:11:34 UTC on March 14, 1995. It is of note because its launch marked the presence, for the first time ever, of thirteen humans in space simultaneously - 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, including the first American astronaut to launch on a Soyuz spacecraft and board Mir, Norman Thagard, for the American Thagard Increment aboard the station, 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 September 11, 1995.

Crew

Mission parameters