Soyuz TM-17 Russian Space Program Patch

Soyuz TM-17 was a Russian mission to the space station Mir, launched on July 1, 1993. It lasted 196 days and 17 hours, making more than 3,000 orbits of the planet Earth. The Soyuz-TM crew transports (T – транспортный – Transportnyi – meaning transport, M – модифицированный – Modifitsirovannyi – meaning modified) were fourth generation (1986–2002) Soyuz spacecraft used for ferry flights to the Mir and ISS space stations. It added to the Soyuz-T new docking and rendezvous, radio communications, emergency and integrated parachute/landing engine systems. The new Kurs rendezvous and docking system permitted the Soyuz-TM to maneuver independently of the station, without the station making mirror image maneuvers to match unwanted translations introduced by earlier models' aft-mounted attitude control.