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Soyuz TM makes inaugural flight On May 21, 1986, the USSR launched a new version of the Soyuz spacecraft coinciding with the introduction of the Mir space station. The first Soyuz TM vehicle, flying without crew, successfully docked to the Core Module of Mir two days after liftoff.
First Soyuz TM mission at a glance:
Even before the first launch of the Soyuz TM, the increasing openness of the Soviet space program manifested itself with the disclosure that the Soyuz T-15 mission on March 13, 1986, was the last mission in the Soyuz T series. Still, observers were left guessing what exactly would come to replace it, because at the time, there was no publicly available information on any upgrade efforts or good candidates among recently launched classified Soviet missions to be a potential test vehicle. (50) Finally, on May 21, 1986, the USSR announced the unpiloted launch of the Soyuz TM variant, where "M" stood for "modifitsirovanny" (modified). In keeping with Soviet tradition, the first spacecraft in a series had no No. 1 in its name, so it was identified simply as Soyuz TM. The TASS statement about the launch disclosed that the ship was heading to Mir as part of its flight testing. The spacecraft was reported to have entered a 240-by-200-kilometer initial orbit. The subsequent publications about the mission were accompanied by a steady trickle of technical information about the newly introduced upgrades. After a two-day autonomous flight, Soyuz TM performed a successful rendezvous and a flyaround of the station with the help of its new Kurs rendezvous system, culminating with docking at the forward Transfer Section, PKhO, of the Core Module on May 23, 1986, at 14:12 Moscow Time. The arrival of Soyuz TM at Mir formed an uninhabited three-spacecraft cluster for the first time, which also included the Progress-26 cargo ship docked to the aft port of the Core Module. At the same time, the Soyuz T-15 crew worked aboard the two-module Salyut-7 space station, so a total of six habitable Soviet vehicles were orbiting the Earth at the same time! 
After four days at Mir, the first Soyuz TM undocked from the Core Module on May 29, 1986, at 13:23 Moscow Time. The departure announcement disclosed that the modified propulsion system (INSIDER CONTENT), known as KDU, aboard Soyuz TM was used for multiple orbit corrections of the station while the ships had been docked. Based on Western orbital tracking, it appears that as many as four maneuvers had taken place during this period, but some could have been conducted using the propulsion system of Progress-26. The statement also said that the landing of Soyuz TM was scheduled for May 30. At the time of the Soyuz TM undocking, Mir was reported to be in a 353 by 335-kilometer orbit. The Descent Module of the spacecraft successfully landed in Kazakhstan within seven kilometers from the projected point, though at the time, the USSR did not publish any details about the reentry and landing timeline or even a touchdown time. Nevertheless, the mission managers were confident enough in the results of the mission to publicly say that the next Soyuz TM vehicle would launch with a crew. (50)
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