Soyuz 18-1

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Mission dates
Mission: Soyuz 18-1
COSPAR-ID : 1975-0405F
Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-T ( GRAY index  11F615A8)
serial number 39
Dimensions: 6830 kg
Launcher: Soyuz (GRAY index 11A511)
Call sign: Урал (" Ural ")
Crew: 2
Begin: April 5, 1975, 11:04:54  UTC
Starting place: Baikonur 1/5
Space station: Salyut 4
Landing: April 5, 1975, 11:26:21 UTC
Landing place: 48 ° 29 '  N , 88 ° 15'  E
Flight duration: 21 min
Earth orbits: 0
Apogee : 192 km
◄ Before / After ►
Soyuz 17
(manned) 		Soyuz 18
(manned)

Soyuz 18-1 , also Soyuz 18A , is the name under which a false start of a Soviet Soyuz spaceship to the Salyut 4 space station on April 5, 1975 is carried out. It would have been the second flight to the station and the 33rd launch by a Soyuz spaceship. Within the Soviet Soyuz program, only missions were consecutively numbered that had at least reached orbit.

crew

Main crew

It was the second joint flight for both cosmonauts. The first with Soyuz 12 in September 1973 had been used to test the further development of the Soyuz spaceship, and together they were the backup crew for Soyuz 17 .

Substitute team

The support team consisted of Vladimir Kovaljonok and Juri Ponomarjow .

Mission overview

Since the presentation of problems during the Cold War was a political issue , more recent, but not necessarily more reliable sources must be used here.

The start took place on schedule until T + 288.6 seconds, when the separation of the second and third stages was initiated at an altitude of 192 km. The third stage is ignited two seconds before the second stage burns out. Only three of the six shutters connecting the stages were released after the third stage was fired. The remaining closures were separated by the thrust, but the thrust vector deviated from the planned direction. After T + 295 seconds the deviation became so great that the automatic safety system separated the spacecraft from the third stage with the help of the main engines of the service module and then separated the return capsule from the rest of the spacecraft.

The Altai mountain ranges and larger places

At the time the landing capsule was detached, the flight vector was already directed towards the earth, so that the rate of descent increased sharply due to the additional thrust of the detachment system. Instead of the acceleration of 15 g (147 m / s²) provided for such emergencies  , the cosmonauts were exposed to up to 21.3 g (209 m / s²). Despite the very strong overload, the parachutes opened as planned and braked the ship until it landed successfully after a flight of only 21 minutes and 27 seconds and a distance of 1574 km.

The landing capsule landed in the high mountains in northwest China , less than 1.6 km from the Mongolian border and around 80 km from the Soviet border ( 48 ° 29 ′  N , 88 ° 15 ′  E ). The crew was picked up by Soviet helicopters a few hours after landing without the Chinese side being informed. The Soviet army newspaper "Rotes Banner" from 1983 is given as the source for this representation.

Official reports by the Soviet TASS news agency spoke of a landing in the high mountains south of Gorno-Altaysk .

The flight of Soyuz 18-1 was the first missile failure at high altitude with a crew on board and a subsequent successful landing. Since an altitude of more than 100 km was reached, the flight is considered a space flight for both cosmonauts. A registration as a suborbital record flight (reached altitude 192 km and 6,830 kg flight mass) with the FAI did not take place, although this flight represents the highest and heaviest suborbital mission in class K-1 (suborbital flights with spaceships) to date.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd Leitenberger: The ATV and the supply of the ISS: The supply systems of the space station. ISBN 978-3837055726
  2. ^ Soyuz 18-1 in Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed November 26, 2010.
  3. ↑ Alexander Anikejew: Soyuz-18-1. (No longer available online.) Space.kursknet.ru, November 24, 2010, archived from the original on July 2, 2015 ; accessed on November 26, 2010 (English).