Soyuz

Flight Details 4

Soyuz 31 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 08/26/78
• Flight Time: 007d 20h 49m
• Number of Orbits: 0127 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Valeri F. Bykovsky
• Sigmund Jaehn (East Germany)

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: The Soyuz 31 flight aboard Salyut 6 included the East German Jaehn. They conducted photographic and biomedical experiments with the Soyuz 29 long-duration crew. The Soyuz 31 crew returned to Earth in the Soyuz 29 spacecraft, leaving Soyuz 31 for the long-duration crew's later return.

Soyuz 32 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 02/25/79
• Flight Time: 175d 00h 36m
• Number of Orbits: 2832 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Vladimir A. Lyakhov
• Valeri V. Ryumin

EVA's:

• 01h 23m - space walk

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: With this mission aboard Salyut 6, the Soviet Union again set a new flight duration record. The major emphasis of the flight was on the effects of weightlessness on the crew during long missions. Unlike the previous long-duration mission of Soyuz 29, the Soyuz 32 crew had no visitors during their stay aboard Salyut 6. The cosmonauts made a space walk to jettison a radio telescope from Salyut 6.

Soyuz 33

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 04/11/79
• Flight Time: 001d 23h 01m
• Number of Orbits: 0032 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Nikolai N. Rukavishnikov
• Georgi I. Ivanov (Bulgaria)

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: The flight of Soyuz 33 resulted in another failure to dock with the Salyut station. The objective of the mission had been to conduct experiments with the long-suration Soyuz 32 crew. However, propulsion system problems in the Soyuz 33 craft resulted in an early return to Earth. The next Soyuz mission, Soyuz 34, was an unmanned flight launched on 6/6/79.

Soyuz 35 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 04/09/80
• Flight Time: 184d 20h 12m
• Number of Orbits: 2991 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Leonid I. Popov
• Valeri V. Ryumin

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: The crew of Soyuz 35 included Valeri Ryumin, who had spent 175 days in space only a year earlier as part of the Soyuz 32 crew. During this long-duration mission aboard Salyut 6, still another flight duration record was set. The crew was visited by crews from four short-duration Soyuz missions. Biomedical, Earth resources, and astronomical experiments were conducted during the flight.

Soyuz 36 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 05/27/80
• Flight Time: 007d 20h 46m
• Number of Orbits: 0127 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Valeri N. Kubasov
• Bertalan Farkas (Hungary)

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This crew conducted experiments aboard Salyut 6 with the Soyuz 35 crew. They returned to Earth in the Soyuz 35 spacecraft, leaving Soyuz 36 for the long-duration crew.

Soyuz T-2 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 06/05/80
• Flight Time: 003d 22h 20m
• Number of Orbits: 0064 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Yuri V. Malyshev
• Vladimir V. Aksenov

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: Only 2 days after the return of the Soyuz 36 crew, Soyuz T-2 began a short stay aboard Salyut 6. The Soyuz T spacecraft was a redesigned Soyuz with enhanced propulsion and computer systems. The Soyuz T-1 flight had been an unmanned test flown on 12/15/79.

Soyuz 37 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 07/23/80
• Flight Time: 007d 20h 42m
• Number of Orbits: 0127 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Viktor V. Gorbatko
• Pham Tuan (North Vietnam)

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This flight came during the Moscow Olympic Games, which the United States was boycotting, and symbolically carried a North Vietnamese pilot claimed by the Soviets to have shot down a B-52 during the Vietnam War. The crew returned to Earth in the Soyuz 36 spacecraft, leaving Soyuz 37 for the long-duration crew of Soyuz 35.

Soyuz 38 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 009/18/80
• Flight Time: 007d 20h 43m
• Number of Orbits: 0127 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Yuri V. Romanenko
• Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez (Cuba)

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This was the final short-duration flight to Salyut 6 during the course of the long-duration Soyuz 35 mission. Several biomedical experiments were conducted by the crew, which included the Cuban cosmonaut Tamayo-Mendez.

Soyuz T-3 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 11/27/80
• Flight Time: 012d 19h 08m
• Number of Orbits: 0207 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Leonid D. Kizim
• Oleg G. Makarov
• Gennadi M. Strekalov

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• Noe

Mission Highlights: This flight represented the first 3-man Soviet mission since the ill-fated Soyuz 11 flight of 1971. The primary purpose of the flight was to conduct repairs to the Salyut 6 station and to perform further tests of the redesigned Soyuz T spacecraft.

Soyuz T-4 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 03/13/81
• Flight Time: 074d 17h 37m
• Number of Orbits: 1209 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Vladimir V. Kovalenok
• Viktor P. Savinykh

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This flight was a return to long-duration missions aboard Salyut 6. However, the flight was not as long as past missions. This was the last long-duration mission aboard the Salyut 6 space station.

Soyuz 39 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 03/22/81
• Flight Time: 007d 20h 42m
• Number of Orbits: 0127 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Vladimir A. Dzanibekov
• Jugderdemidyin Gurragcha (Mongolia)

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: The crew of this flight conducted experiments aboard Salyut 6 with the long-duration Soyuz T-4 crew. The Mongolian cosmonaut Gurragcha was the second Asian to go into space.

Soyuz 40 (Salyut 6)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 05/14/81
• Flight Time: 007d 20h 42m
• Number of Orbits: 0127 orbits

Cosmonaut Crew:

• Leonid I. Popov
• Dumitru Prunariu (Romania)

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This flight to the Salyut 6 station was the last Soviet mission to use the older type Soyuz spacecraft. All future flights would use the Soyuz T and later craft. The flight, which occurred during the Soyuz T-4 long duration mission, marked the last in a series of nine flights with non-Russian cosmonauts from socialist countries.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003