Gennadi Sarafanov, born January 1, 1942 in the former Soviet Union, went into space aboard Soyuz 15 in August 1974. He and fellow cosmonaut Lev Dyomin were to dock with Salyut 3 space station but the mission was aborted after docking failed. It was his only spaceflight before retiring.
Pavel Popovich, born October 5, 1930, went into space during the early years of the Soviet space program.
His first flight was on Vostok 4 in August 1962. It was the first time two cosmonauts were in space at the same time, in different spacecraft. Fellow cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev was aboard Vostok 3, having launched the day before Popovich.
His second and final flight was aboard Soyuz 14 as commander in July 1974 with Yuri Artyukhin to Salyut 3. It was also the only flight to the space station since Soyuz 15 failed to dock, and then Salyut 3 was deorbited in January 1975.
Popovich died in September 2009 after suffering a stroke.
Yuri Artyukhin, born June 22, 1930, was a Russian cosmonaut who went into space once aboard Soyuz 14. He had been chosen to fly on Voskhod 3 but it was cancelled. He flew as Flight Engineer on Soyuz 14 to Salyut 3 in July 1974 and spent 15 days in space.
Soyuz 14, launched July 3, 1974, was the only successful docking to Salyut 3, since Soyuz 15 failed to dock and the station was de-orbited in 1975. Soyuz 14 crew consisted of Pavel Popovich and Yuri Artyukhin. Their main mission, not known by the West at the time, was to test the suitability of Salyut 3 as a manned military reconnaissance platform.
Lev Dyomin, born January 11, 1926 in Moscow, made one trip into space on Soyuz 15 in August 1974. With fellow cosmonaut Gennadi Sarafanov, they attempted to dock with the space station Salyut 3 but were unsuccessful. They returned to Earth two days after launch and neither went into space again.
Lev Dyomin and Gennadi Sarafanov blasted off in Soyuz 15 August 26, 1974 on their way to the Salyut 3. When they arrived at the space station, the electronic docking system malfunctioned and the crew had to return to Earth, because they didn't have enough fuel to continue docking attempts. The Soviet news agency TASS stated the cosmonauts were merely 'practicing docking techniques'. They landed August 28.
On August 26, 1978, Valery Bykovsky and Sigmund Jahn (the first German cosmonaut) took off in Soyuz 31 to Salyut 6 space station with more success than Soyuz 15. They swapped out the crew already on the station. They returned November 2.
