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Crewed flight of the Soyuz programme
This article is about a 1973 spaceflight. For the mission identified by NASA as ISS Soyuz 12, see
Soyuz TMA-8
.
Soyuz 12
(
Russian
:
Союз 12
,
Union 12
) was a September, 1973, crewed test flight by the
Soviet Union
of the newly redesigned
Soyuz 7K-T
spacecraft that was intended to provide greater crew safety in the wake of the
Soyuz 11
tragedy. The flight marked the return of the Soviets to crewed space operations after the 1971 accident. The crew capacity of the capsule had been decreased from three to two cosmonauts to allow for
pressure suits
to be worn during launch, re-entry and docking. It was the first time pressure suits were used for reentry since the
Voskhod 2
flight.
[4]
Cosmonauts
Vasily Lazarev
and
Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov
spent two days in space testing the new craft.
Crew
[
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Backup crew
[
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Reserve crew
[
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Mission parameters
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- Mass:
6,570 kg (14,480 lb)
[1]
- Perigee:
194.0 km (120.5 mi)
[3]
- Apogee:
249.0 km (154.7 mi)
- Inclination:
51.6°
- Period:
88.6 minutes
Mission highlights
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As the first crewed test of the new version of the Soyuz ferry craft, Soyuz 12 was to have flown to a
Salyut
station.
[4]
But the failures of
Salyut 2
(4 April 1973) and
Cosmos 557
(11 May 1973) in the months previous meant there was no station for the craft to dock to. The
service module
had no solar panels, carrying batteries for power instead, which limited the flight to about two days, enough time for a journey to and from a space station.
[4]
Cosmonauts Lazarev and Makarov wore pressure suits for launch and landing, and would have worn them for a station docking, all changes brought about by the
Soyuz 11
tragedy. The bulk of the suits and their environmental control systems limited the crew size to two.
[4]
After the successful 27 September 1973 launch, the craft was maneuvered to a 326 x 344 km orbit on the second day in space,
[4]
which later proved to be the standard orbit for the
Salyut 4
space station. A
multispectral camera
in the
orbital module
was used in coordination with aircraft to photograph the
Earth
. It was reported that the intention of the camera was to survey
crop
and
forest
conditions
[4]
The cosmonauts also utilised the
Molniya 1
satellite
to communicate with
ground stations
when out of range.
[4]
The crew landed safely on 29 September 1973 and the mission was called "flawless".
[4]
A large object was jettisoned when the craft was preparing for retrofire. The object remained in orbit for 116 days.
[4]
See also
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References
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]
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Past missions
(by spacecraft type)
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Uncrewed missions are designated as
Kosmos
instead of
Soyuz
; exceptions are noted "(uncrewed)".
The † sign designates failed missions.
Italics
designates cancelled missions.
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Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in
underline
. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in
italics
. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).
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