Aleksei Gubarev, born March 29, 1931 in the former Soviet Union, went into space twice.
His first trip was aboard Soyuz 17 as commander to the Salyut 4 space station, launched in January 1975. It was the first of two long-term stays aboard the station. He returned to Earth in February 1975 after over 29 days.
His second and final flight was aboard Soyuz 28 to Salyut 6 in March 1978, where he participated in expedition EP-2. He returned to Earth after almost 8 days in space.
Soyuz 28 crew: Aleksei Gubarev (seated), Vladimir Remek
Mission patch
Soyuz 28, launched March 2, 1978, was the fourth mission to the station, the third successful docking and the second crew to the space station Salyut 6. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksei Gubarev and Vladimir Remek from Czechoslovakia, the first non-Russian, non-American astronaut. They made up the crew of EP-2. They stayed in space about a week and returned to Earth March 10.
Viktor Savinykh, born March 7, 1940, is part of the team that rescued Salyut 7, which had stopped responding to ground signals. His first mission into space was aboard Soyuz T-4 launched March 12, 1981, the sixth and last long-duration stay aboard Salyut 6 as EO-6, with fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Kovalyonok. They stayed on board about a month and a half before returning to Earth.
His next trip was aboard Soyuz T-13, June 6, 1985, the eighth expedition to Salyut 7, the first time a spacecraft docked with a 'dead' space station. Commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov piloted his ship and matched the station's rotation and managed to connect with the forward port. Savinykh and Dzhanibekov, wearing winter garb and fur-lined hats entered the dark station. The air was breathable but extremely cold. On June 10, they turned the heaters on after restoring electric power and three days later, managed to reactivate the attitude control system, which allowed the supply spacecraft to dock with Salyut 7.
Water tanks were thawed by the end of June and normal atmospheric humidity was achieved after almost two months after docking. These events have been dramatized in a 2017 Russian film, Salyut 7.
Savinykh's next trip was to the space station Mir, aboard Soyuz TM-5 in June 1988. He was part of expedition EP-2, which lasted about a week and he returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-4.
