Georgi Grechko, born May 25, 1931 in Leningrad in the Soviet Union, has been in space three times.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz 17 in 1975 to the space station Salyut 4. He stayed on Salyut 4 for 29 days, setting a record for that time.
His second mission was aboard Soyuz 26 to the space station Salyut 6 in December 1977. He participated in the first long duration expedition, EO-1. He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz 27 in March 1978.
His third and final flight was aboard Soyuz T-14 to Salyut 7 in September 1985. He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz T-13 later the same month.
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.
Leonid Kizim, born August 5, 1941 in present-day Ukraine, was a veteran of three space flights.
His first flight was aboard Soyuz T-3 to the Salyut 6 space station in November 1980. He stayed in space for almost 13 days before returning to Earth.
His second flight was on Soyuz T-10 to the Salyut 7 space station in February 1984. He and his fellow cosmonauts had to enter Salyut 7 with flashlights until they could reactivate the station. He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz T-11 in October 1984
His third and final flight was aboard Soyuz T-15 to Salyut 7 and Mir space stations in March 1986. It was the first time a spacecraft visited two space stations in the same mission. He returned to Earth in July 1986.
Soyuz 34, launched June 6, 1979, was an unmanned spacecraft sent to supply the Salyut 6's resident crew after Soyuz 33 suffered engine failure. Soyuz 34 returned to Earth on August 19, bringing Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin home.
Soyuz T-2, launched June 5, 1980, was the 10th successful mission to the space station Salyut 6. Its crew consisted of Commander Yury Malyshev and Vladimir Aksyonov. They were the second crew to visit the resident long-duration crew of Soyuz 35. Soyuz T-2 was mainly to test the new Soyuz T spacecraft with a crew. Soyuz T-1 was unmanned.
They returned to Earth June 9.
Soyuz 36, launched May 26, 1980, was the eleventh mission to the Salyut 6 space station, and the ninth successful docking. Its crew consisted of Valeri Kubasov and Bertalan Farkas, the first Hungarian cosmonaut.
It landed July 31 with Viktor Gorbatko and Pham Tuan, the first Vietnamese cosmonaut.
Vladimir Dzhanibekov, born May 13, 1942 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of five space flights.
His first mission was as commander aboard Soyuz 27 to Salyut 6 in January 1978. He participated in expedition EP-1 and returned to Earth on Soyuz 26 about 6 days later.
His second mission was aboard Soyuz 39 as commander to Salyut 6 in March 1981, where he spent about 8 days before returning to Earth.
His third flight was aboard Soyuz T-6 as commander to Salyut 7 in June 1982 for another 8 days.
His fourth flight was as commander abord Soyuz T-12 to Salyut 7 in July 1984, where he stayed for about 12 days.
His fifth and final flight was aboard Soyuz T-13 as commander to Salyut 7 in June 1985. He remained on board for about 3 1/2 months before returning to Earth.
He has a minor planet named after him: 3170 Dzhanibekov discovered in 1979.
Soyuz 33 crew: Nikolai Rukavishnikov, Georgi Ivanov
Mission patch
Soyuz 33, launched April 10, 1979, was intended to dock with Salyut 6 but an engine failure forced the mission to be aborted. Its crew consisted of Nikolai Rukavishnikov and Bulgarian Georgi Ivanov. They had to abort the mission before they docked with the space station and returned to Earth after almost 2 days in space.
Soyuz 35, launched April 9, 1980, was the tenth manned mission to (the eighth to successfully dock with) Salyut 6. Its crew consisted of Commander Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin.
Soyuz 35 returned to Earth in June 1980 with Commander Valeri Kubasov and Bertalan Farkas, the first Hungarian cosmonaut.
Vladimir Kovalyonok, born March 3, 1942, is a cosmonaut who went into space three times. His first flight was aboard Soyuz 25 to the space station Salyut 6 in October 1977. The mission was aborted when the crew of Soyuz 25 was unable to dock with Salyut 6.
His second flight was aboard Soyuz 29 as commander to Salyut 6 in June 1978. He and fellow cosmonaut Aleksandr Ivanchenkov stayed aboard until September and returned to Earth aboard Soyuz 31.
Kovalyonok's third and final flight was commander aboard Soyuz T-4 in March 1981 to Salyut 6. He and cosmonaut Viktor Savinykh were the last long-term crew on Salyut 6. They returned to Earth in May 1981.
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.
Valeri Kubasov, born January 7, 1935 in the former Soviet Union, was a veteran of three space flights. He spent over 18 days in space.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz 6 with fellow cosmonaut Georgy Shonin. They conducted the first welding experiments in space but planned docking and rendezvous maneuvers with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 failed.
His second mission was aboard Soyuz 19 with Alexey Leonov in July 1975. They docked with NASA's Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program, a joint project between NASA and the Soviet space program.
Kuvasov's third and final mission was aboard Soyuz 36 as commander to the Salyut 6 space station in May 1980. He returned to Earth in June.
He passed away of natural causes in February 2014.
Soyuz 25 crew (L-R): Vladimir Kovalyonok, Valery Ryumin
Soyuz 25, launched October 9, 1977, was the first flight to the new Salyut 6 space station, launched just ten days prior. Its crew consisted of Commander Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin. The mission was aborted when the cosmonauts failed to dock with Salyut 6. Kovalyonok and Ryumin were both rookies and subsequently, the Soviet space program instituted a new rule such that every crew had to have at least one person who had flown in space previously.
Salyut 6, Soviet orbital space station, was launched September 29, 1977. It did not have a way to refueling or removing accumulated garbage, so once its consumables were gone, it had to be discontinued. It was deorbited in July 1982.
During its mission, it received sixteen crews, with six of those being long-duration. The first crew arrived on Soyuz 26 in December 1977. The last craft to dock was Soyuz 40 in May 1981.
Miroslaw Hermaszewski, born September 15, 1941 in Poland (now Ukraine), is the only Polish citizen to go to space. He traveled aboard Soyuz 30 to the space station Salyut 6 with fellow cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk as part of expedition EP-3 in June 1978.
Yury Malyshev, born August 27, 1941 in the former Soviet Union, went into space twice. His first mission was aboard Soyuz T-2 as commander in June 1980 to Salyut 6.
His second mission was aboard Soyuz T-11 as commander in April 1984 to Salyut 7. He returned to Earth on Soyuz T-10 about a week later.
Soyuz 32, launched February 25, 1979, was the seventh successful mission to space station Salyut 6. Its crew consisted of Commander Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin. They set a record at the time for longest duration in space, 175 days.
A visiting crew (Soyuz 33) failed to dock to Salyut 6, so the cosmonauts had no visitors during their stay. They returned to Earth June 13.
Soyuz 27 crew (L-R): Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Oleg Makarov
Soyuz 27 mission stamp
Soyuz 27, launched January 10, 1978, was the third manned flight to Salyut 6. It was the first time three spacecraft were docked together and the first visitation mission to the space station. Its launch crew consisted of Commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Oleg Makarov. They were the crew of the expedition EP-1. They stayed for 6 days before returning to Earth in Soyuz 26.
Soyuz 27 remained docked with Salyut 6 until March when it returned with the crew of EO-1, Commander Yuri Romanenko and Georgi Grechko.
Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov, born January 6, 1933 in the former Soviet Union, was a veteran of four trips into space.
His first trip into space was aboard Soyuz 12 in September 1973. After the tragedy of Soyuz 11, the Soviets reduced crew capacity of the capsule to two (from three) to allow pressure suits to be worn during take off, re-entry and landing. Makarov and fellow cosmonaut Vasily Lazarev spent two days testing the new suits.
His second mission was the unsuccessful launch of Soyuz 18a in April 1975. The mission was scheduled to dock with Salyut 4 space station, but the crew failed to make orbit, due to the failure of the launch vehicle.
His third attempt was successful. He flew as flight engineer for Soyuz 27, which docked with Salyut 6 space station in January 1978. Makarov and cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov made up the crew of expedition EP-1. They spent five days aboard the space station and returned in Soyuz 26.
Makarov's fourth and final flight was aboard Soyuz T-3 November-December 1980 as flight engineer. The mission flew to the Salyut 6 space station and was the first Soyuz spacecraft to carry three cosmonauts since Soyuz 11 in 1971.
Gennady Strekalov, born October 26, 1940, went into space 5 times. He lived on Salyut 6, Salyut 7 and Mir.
His first mission into space was aboard Soyuz T-3 as a research cosmonaut November-December 1980 to Salyut 6. He and the rest of the crew of Soyuz T-3 stayed aboard for almost 13 days.
His second trip was as flight engineer on Soyuz T-8 in April 1983 to Salyut 7. The craft failed to dock with the space station and due to damage to Soyuz T-8, the decision was made to return to Earth after only 2 days.
In September 1983, Strekalov attempted to go into space on Soyuz T-10-1 with fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Titov. The launch vehicle was destroyed by fire before the countdown had completed. The escape system fired two seconds before the rocket exploded, saving the crew, battered and bruised but alive.
His third trip, which was successful, was as Flight Engineer on Soyuz T-11 in April 1984 to Salyut 7. He returned to Earth on Soyuz T-10 about a week later.
Gennady's fourth trip was on Soyuz TM-10 as flight engineer to Mir in August 1990. He and Gennadi Manakov spent over 4 months on Mir and returned to Earth December.
His fifth and final trip was on Soyuz TM-21 as flight engineer, launched in March 1995 to Mir. He was part of the crew of the expedition Mir EO-18. He returned to Earth on Atlantis (STS-71) in July.
