Soyuz T-4

Soyuz T-4
COSPAR ID	1981-023A
SATCAT no.	12334
Mission duration	74 days, 17 hours, 37 minutes, 23 seconds
Orbits completed	1,178
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-T
Manufacturer	NPO Energia
Launch mass	6,850 kilograms (15,100 lb)
Crew
Crew size	2
Members	Vladimir Kovalyonok; Viktor Savinykh
Callsign	Photon
Start of mission
Launch date	12 March 1981, 19:00:11 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date	26 May 1981, 12:37:34 UTC
Landing site	125 kilometres (78 mi) E Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	201 kilometres (125 mi)
Apogee altitude	250 kilometres (160 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Period	88.7 minutes
Docking with Salyut 6
Docking date	13 March 1981, 20:33 UTC[1]
Undocking date	26 May 1981, 09:20 UTC[1]
	Soyuz programme; (Crewed missions)

Soyuz T-4 was a Soviet space mission which launched the crew of Salyut 6 EO-6, the sixth and final long-duration crew of the Salyut 6 space station. It was launched on 12 March 1981 and docked with the station the next day.[1] During their stay, the EO-6 crew was visited by Soyuz 39 and Soyuz 40. Soyuz T-4 returned to Earth on 26 May 1981; its crew were the last to have inhabited Salyut 6.[2]

Crew


Position	Crew
Commander	Vladimir Kovalyonok Third and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Viktor Savinykh First spaceflight

Backup crew


Position	Crew
Commander	Vyacheslav Zudov
Flight Engineer	Boris Andreyev

Mission parameters

Mass: 6850 kg
Perigee: 201 km
Apogee: 250 km
Inclination: 51.6°
Period: 88.7 minutes

Mission highlights

The docking with Salyut 6 was delayed after the Soyuz's onboard Argon computer determined it would occur outside radio range with the TsUP.[3] Despite this, the docking occurred successfully on 13 March 1981. The Progress 12 spacecraft was already docked to the station by the time the crew arrived, and they spent several days unloading the Progress before its undocking on 19 March.[1] This freed the remaining docking port for the arrival of the Soyuz 39/EP-9 crew on 22 March.

In mid-May, Kovalyonok and Savinykh replaced the spacecraft's probe with a Salyut drogue. This may have been an experiment to see if a Soyuz-T docked to a space station could act as a rescue vehicle in the event that an approaching Soyuz-T equipped with a probe experienced docking difficulties and could not return to Earth.[1]

The EO-6 crew undocked from Salyut 6 on 26 May, leaving behind the Soyuz's orbital module. Soyuz T-4 landed over three hours later, touching down 125 kilometres (78 mi) east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakh SSR.[1]

References

"Soyuz T-4". Spacefacts. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
Yenne, Bill (1988). The Pictorial History of World Spaceflight. Exeter. pp. 140, 143. ISBN 0-7917-0188-3.
D. S. F. Portree (1995). "Mir Hardware Heritage" (PDF). NASA. p. 49. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2003-07-09.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[spacefacts-1] "Soyuz T-4". Spacefacts. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2014.

[Yenne-2] Yenne, Bill (1988). The Pictorial History of World Spaceflight. Exeter. pp. 140, 143. ISBN 0-7917-0188-3.

[MHH-3] D. S. F. Portree (1995). "Mir Hardware Heritage" (PDF). NASA. p. 49. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2003-07-09.