Soyuz

Flight Details 2

Soyuz 11 (Salyut 1)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 06/06/71
• Flight Time: 023d 18h 22m
• Number of Orbits: 0385 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Georgi T. Dobrovolsky
• Vladislav N. Volkov
• Viktor A. Patsayev

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: What had been a most successful mission aboard the Salyut 1 space station, turned into disaster upon reentry of the crew. A pressure release valve in the Soyuz spacecraft malfunctioned, allowing the oxygen to escape from the cabin during reentry. The crew, as was the custom on earlier Soyuz flights, was not wearing pressure suits. When the recovery teams opened the hatch on the spacecraft, they found the flight crew dead.

Soyuz 12

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 9/27/73
• Flight Time: 001d 23h 16m
• Number of Orbits: 0032 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Vasili G. Lazarev
• Oleg G. Makarov

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This was the first Soviet mission after the tragic Soyuz 11 flight. The purpose of the flight was to test design changes to the Soyuz spacecraft. The flight was devoted to testing on-board systems and conducting Earth photography.

Soyuz 13

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 12/18/73
• Flight Time: 007d 20h 35m
• Number of Orbits: 0127 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Pytor I. Klimuk
• Valentine V. Lebedev

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This mission was primarily intended to give the Soviets some Salyut-like experiments after the destruction of Salyut 2 in orbit on 4/3/73. Experiments included astrophysics, plant biology, biomedical, and Earth resources tasks.

Soyuz 14 (Salyut 3)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 07/03/74
• Flight Time: 015d 17h 30m
• Number of Orbits: 0254 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Pavel R. Popovich
• Yuri P. Artyukhin

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: Within four orbits after launch, the crew docked with the new Salyut 3 space station (launched 6/24/74). The mission objectives included a variety of Earth resources, biomedical, and plant biology experiments. The Soyuz 14 spacecraft differed from previous Soyuz in that it did not have solar panels. This new design was intended soley as a ferry craft to the Salyut and was powered by internal batteries.

Soyuz 15

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 08/26/74
• Flight Time: 002d 00h 12m
• Number of Orbits: 0032 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Gennadi V. Sarafanov
• Lev S. Demin

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This flight was announced as a continuation of the work performed by Soyuz 14. However, it appears that some problem occurred with the docking mechanism. Although several rendezvous maneuvers were made with Salyut 3, a docking was never achieved. The crew was forced to make an unusual night landing after only 2 days in orbit.

Soyuz 16

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 12/02/74
• Flight Time: 005d 22h 24m
• Number of Orbits: 0096 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Anatoli V. Filipchenko
• Nikolai N. Rukavishnikov

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This flight was a rehearsal for the Soviet portion of the upcoming Apollo-Soyuz flight. The Soyuz 16 crew flew a mission profile closely resembling the one planned for ASTP. Soyuz 16 also tested the new docking mechanism to be used on ASTP.

Soyuz 17 (Salyut 4)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 01/11/75
• Flight Time: 029d 13h 20m
• Number of Orbits: 0478 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Alexei A. Gubarev
• Georgi M. Grechko

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: The Soviets resumed their Salyut missions with this flight. The crew successfully docked with the Salyut 4 station (launched 12/26/74). Unlike the low-orbiting Salyut 3, Salyut 4 was in a high Earth orbit, suggesting that its primary experiments were astrophysical in nature, versus Earth observations. After a successful mission aboard Salyut, the crew landed in the middle of a blinding snowstorm. They were, however, quickly recovered.

Soyuz 18a

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 04/05/75
• Flight Time: 000d 00h 21m
• Number of Orbits: 0000 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Vasili G. Lazarev
• Oleg G. Makarov

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This was to have been the 18th Soyuz flight. However, a stage separation malfunction in the A-2 booster resulted in an aborted launch. The Soyuz crew flew a sub-orbital trajectory, landing some 1,000 miles from the launch site. The crew was unharmed.

Soyuz 18

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 05/24/75
• Flight Time: 062d 23h 20m
• Number of Orbits: 1019 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Pytor I. Klimuk
• Vitali I. Sevastianov

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: The crew accomplished a successful docking with the Salyut 4 station. It appears that the crew suffered from motion sickness during the first 10 days of their flight. About 90 scientific experiments, including astronomy, biomedicine, and Earth resources were conducted during the mission. At the time, this was the longest Soviet mission, but still less than the American Skylab 3 mission, at 84 days.

Soyuz 19 (ASTP)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 07/15/75
• Flight Time: 005d 22h 31m
• Number of Orbits: 0096 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Alexei A. Leonov
• Valeri N. Kubasov

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This flight was the Soviet half of the joint Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). Soyuz was the passive target for docking by the Apollo spacecraft. During the joint mission, crew members from each spacecraft visited the other vehicle for scientific and ceremonial activities. The next Soyuz flight, Soyuz 20, was an unmanned test mission launched on 11/17/75.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003