Soyuz 5 launched 1969

Soyuz 5 crew (L-R): Boris Volynov, Yevgeny Khrunov, Aleksei Yeliseyev

Soyuz 5 mission patch

Soyuz 5, launched January 15, 1969, participated in the first docking between two manned spacecraft.  Its crew consisted of Commander Boris Volynov, Flight Engineer Aleksei Yeliseyev and Research Engineer Yevgeny Khrunov.

The following day Soyuz 5 successfully docked with Soyuz 4, and crew members Yeliseyev and Khrunov transferred to Soyuz 4 for re-entry.

Volynov remained in Soyuz 5.  Upon return, the service module did not separate  when the retrorockets fired.  It was too late to abort and the module turned to find the best aerodynamic position available, which was nose first.  Basically, upside down.  Volynov was pressed against his restraining harness instead of the cushions of his seat.

Fortunately, the struts connecting the service module and descent module burned through before the hatch did, and the modules separated.  The lander corrected its position, with the heat shield taking the friction of re-entry.

Then the parachutes got tangled and the soft-landing rockets failed to fire, resulting in a hard landing, which broke several of Volynov's teeth.  The temperature was about 40° below zero and Volynov knew it would be hours before the rescue units would find him, so he left the capsule and walked several kilometers to find shelter at a local peasant's house.

Volynov did not go into space for another 7 years.

Soyuz 10 launched 1971

Soyuz 10, launched April 22, 1971, was the first mission to the world's first space station.  Her crew consisted of Vladimir Shatalov, Flight Engineer Aleksei Yeliseyev, and Test Engineer Nikolai Rukavishnikov.

The crew was unable to dock with Salyut 1 and had to return to Earth.

Salyut 1, first space station launched 1971

Salyut 1, the first space station ever, was launched by the Soviet Union April 19, 1971. After Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July 1969, the Soviets shifted the emphasis of their space program to orbiting stations, with a possible moon landing later in the 1970s.

They began construction of Salyut 1 in early 1970 and planned to launch on April 12 to coincide with Yuri Gagarin’s history flight on Vostok 1 technical problems postponed the launch until April 19.

The first crew to arrive was aboard Soyuz 10, launched April 22 with Vladimir Shatalov, Aleksei Yeliseyev and Nikolai Rikavishnikov.  They managed to ‘soft-dock’ with Salyut 1 but hard-docking had to be aborted due to technical malfunctions.  However, after undocking, toxic fumes began to fill the capsule during re-entry and Rukavishnikov lost consciousness, but all crew members were recovered successfully.

The second crew, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev, launched in Soyuz 11 June 6, 1971 and docked with Salyut 1 and transferred to the space station.  They were able to carry out some of their tasks but after 23 days, their mission was cut short due to problems aboard the station.  They transferred back to Soyuz 11 and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.  A pressure relief valve malfunctioned during the descent, depressurizing the capsule, suffocating the crew.

The Soviets then moved Salyut 1 to a higher orbit to be sure it would not be destroyed too early through orbital decay.  While this maneuver was being fulfilled, the Soviets worked on an effort to redesign the capsules so pressure suits could be worn during launch, docking, re-entry, etc. 

Their efforts took too much time and in September, Salyut 1 was running low on attitude control gas.  On October 11, 1971, the Soviets fired the main engines for a deorbit maneuver and the space station burned up over the Pacific Ocean.

Soyuz 4 launched 1969

Soyuz 4, launched January 14, 1969, carried cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov on his first flight.  It docked with Soyuz 5 January 16, a first for two manned spacecraft.  Apollo 9 would do the same in March.  The mission involved transferring switching crews from one spacecraft to another via EVA, since connecting tunnels which would allow a simple internal transfer had not been developed. 

Soyuz 5 cosmonauts Aleksei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov successfully transferred to Soyuz 4 and returned to Earth January 17.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Boris Volynov!

Boris Valentinovich Volynov, born December 18, 1934 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of the Voskhod program and went into space twice aboard Soyuz vessels.

He was first assigned as a possible commander for Voskhod 1 in 1964, but he and two others were bumped three days before the scheduled launch.  He trained a year training for Voskhod 3, but the flight was cancelled just 10 days before launch and he was transferred to the Soyuz group.

Volynov made it into space January 1965 aboard Soyuz 5 and transferred his two crewmen, Aleksei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov to Soyuz 4 via EVA.  Volynov returned to Earth as a solo re-entry but things did not go as planned.  Soyuz 5's equipment module failed to separate properly and blocked the re-entry heat shielf on the base of the descent module.  Volynov lost control of Soyuz 5, which began tumbling.  The heat of the re-entry finally burned off the equipment module and the descent module oriented itself properly.  The parachutes deployed but only partially and the retro-rockets for a soft landing failed to fire.  Volynov hit the ground so hard it broke several of his teeth. 

It wasn't over. 

Volynov landed far from his planned landing spot.  He landed in the Ural Mountains where it was -36 °F and rescuers would not reach him for many hours.  He abandoned the capsule and walked several kilometers to find shelter at a local peasant's house.

That didn't discourage him from going into space again.  His second and final mission was aboard Soyuz 21 to Salyut 5 in July - August 1976.  This landing had problems as well, but nearly as bad as his first.  As Volynov tried to undock from the space station, the latch failed to release properly.  The spacecraft moved out of range and only the first set of emergency procedures were receieved.  It did not work.  After another orbit, they received their final emergency procedures and the latches disengaged.  Soyuz 21 was now outside the normal recovery window and encoutered strongs winds as it descended.  This caused the retrorockets fire unevenly and they had a hard landing about midnight.

Volynov has not returned to space.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov!

Vladimir Shatalov, born December 8, 1927 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of three Soyuz missions.  His first flight  was aboard Soyuz 4 where he was the only cosmonaut launched in the spacecraft.  Soyuz 4 rendezvoused with Soyuz 5 in January 1969 and performed the first successful docking between two spacecraft.

His second mission was as commander of Soyuz 8, with fellow cosmonaut Aleksei Yeliseyev.  It was a joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 7, the first time three Soyuz spacecraft were in orbit simultaneously with a total of 7 cosmonauts.

Shatalov's third and final mission was on Soyuz 10, with Yeliseyev and Nikolai Rukavishnikov on what would be the first mission to the first space station, Salyut 1 in April 1971.

Happy birthday, Aleksei Yeliseyev, first Lithuanian cosmonaut, 1934

Aleksei Stanislavovich Yeliseyev was born July 13, 1934, in Zhizdra, Russia, to a Lithuanian father and Russian mother.  Although he was born in Russia and uses his mother's name, Yeliseyev, he is considered to be the first cosmonaut of Lithuanian heritage.  He served as flight engineer on three missions: Soyuz 5, Soyuz 8 and Soyuz 10 before retiring from the Soviet space program in 1985.

The first U.S. astronaut of Lithuanian heritage is Karol Joseph Bobko, who has flown three space shuttle flights.

Soyuz 8 launches 1969

Commander Vladimir Shatalov and Flight Engineer Aleksei Yeliseyev blasted off in Soyuz 8, October 13, 1969, with all intent to dock with Soyuz 7, which launched the previous day.  Soyuz 6 took off just two days before.  It was the first time seven cosmonauts were in orbit at the same time. 

The “official” plan was to dock with Soyuz 7 and transfer one cosmonaut via EVA while Soyuz 6 filmed the whole operation.  However, due to mechanical failures, the docking procedure never happened.  In all, three attempts were made but none were successful.  Therefore, the Soviets stated they never really meant to dock.

Shatalov and Yeliseyev returned to Earth on schedule October 18.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_8

http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-8.htm

http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/soyuz678/soyuz678.html