Soyuz 27

Soyuz 27

Infobox Space mission
mission_name = Soyuz 27
sign = Pamir (Pamirs)
crew_members = 2
launch = January 10, 1978
12:26:00 UTC
Gagarin's Start
landing = March 16, 1978
11:18:47 UTC
310 km W of Tselinograd
duration = 64d/22:52:47
orbits = 1025
next =
previous = Soyuz 26 |

Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

Launched:
*Vladimir Dzhanibekov (1) - Commander
*Oleg Makarov (3) - Flight Engineer

Landed:
*Yuri Romanenko (1) - Commander
*Georgi Grechko (2) - Flight Engineer

Backup crew

*Vladimir Kovalyonok - Commander
*Aleksandr Ivanchenkov - Flight Engineer

Mission parameters

*Mass: 6800 kg
*Perigee: 198.9 km
*Apogee: 253.8 km
*Inclination: 51.65°
*Period: 88.73 minutes

Salyut 6 EP-1 was the second successful mission to Salyut 6. They launched in the Soyuz 27 and returned to Earth in the Soyuz 26 spacecraft, the first crew to do so. It was the first visiting crew to the station and marked the first time that three spacecraft were docked together and signaled the beginning of the Russian semi-permanent occupation of space.

The mission itself really only had two goals. The first was to free the aft port of the station for the Progress freighter. At that time Soyuz 26 was docked to that port after Soyuz 25 was unable to dock to the forward port but an EVA by the Soyuz 26 crew had found that there was nothing wrong with the forward port, showing that the problem was with Soyuz 25 instead. Mission Control however did not feel confident enough to just let the crew of Soyuz 26 undock, fly around the station and dock at the forward port. So instead they decided to let Soyuz 27 dock with the forward port and then land in Soyuz 26, leaving the aft port free for Progress 1.

The other goal was more to do with public relations and propaganda. It was basically to have three spacecraft docked together. This would be the first time since Apollo-Soyuz that two crews had been in space together and the first time that both crews were in the same spacecraft together. The launch was completely nominal and so was docking. Dzhanibekov (who was the commander) allowed the automatic system to dock the station. Even though at one point he detected that they were slightly off course he allowed the system to continue and with 7 metres to go the Soyuz corrected the slight alignment error.

They then encountered their first problem - the hatch wouldn't open. The hatch suddenly did pop free sending Makarov and Dzhanibekov backwards. The crew of Soyuz 26, Georgi Grechko and Yuri Romanenko, dove into the Soyuz and grabbed their first visitors for one month. They hugged and talked to Mission Control where Leonid Brezhnev was watching the proceedings through a live video feed from space. Among the gifts from Earth were newspapers and letters from home.

Russian society places great importance on welcoming visitors. Part of this is the eating of bread and salt, symbols of fellowship and good luck, though on the station all they had were crackers and salt tablets. They also made many toasts with vodka and cherry juice in squeeze tubes.

To test the structural integrity of the station that now consisted of three spacecraft, the four men held onto the treadmill and bounced up and down to see if the amplified the vibrations. It had been found that the resonant frequencies of the station could be created by running the station at certain speeds. The crew found that the station was perfectly safe with three spacecraft docked.

One piece of information that the visiting crew didn't immediately tell the permanent crew was that Greckho's father had died ten days earlier. Psychologists had decided it was not in the best interests of a cosmonaut spending several months in space to have this hanging over them. Makarov and Dzhanibekov did tell Romanenko and they all agreed that was the right thing to do, though Romanenko decided that he would be the one to tell Greckho when they landed. Years later Greckho said in an interview that he also thought the decision was the right one.

The only major scientific experiment performed by the crew of Soyuz 26 and 27 was an investigation into how microgravity effected the way that protozoa cells grew. This showed that there was very little difference in the growth of the ones in space and the control group on Earth. The only difference was a slight one in the cells metabolism.

After five days at the station, the crew swapped their custom seat liners with those in the Soyuz 26 spacecraft, closed the hatch and undocked. They landed 265 km west of Tselinograd, Kazakhstan.

External links

*http://www.astronautix.com/flights/soyuz27.htm
*http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-27.htm
*http://www.terra.es/personal/heimdall/eng/soyuz27.htm
*http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Salyut6/Occupation1.htm
*http://books.nap.edu/books/0309085489/html/index.html


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Soyuz-FG — (Soyuz FG/Fregat) El lanzamiento de la Soyuz TMA 9 sobre un cohete Soyuz FG. Características Funcionalidad Cohete cargador orbital Fabricante TsSK …   Wikipedia Español

  • Soyuz T-15 — Mission statistics Mission name Soyuz T 15 Crew size 2 Call sign Mayak (Beacon) Launch date March 13, 1986 12:33:09 UTC Gagarin s Start …   Wikipedia

  • Soyuz TM-30 — Soyuz TM 30/Mir EO 28 Mission insignia Mission statistics Mission name Soyuz TM 30/Mir EO 28 Crew size 2 …   Wikipedia

  • Soyuz 1 — Insignia de la misión Datos de la misión Nombre: Soyuz 1 Cohete lanzador: Soyuz (11A511) Nombre de la nave: Рубин (Rubi …   Wikipedia Español

  • Soyuz-U — (Soyuz U/Ikar; Soyuz U/Fregat) Un cohete Soyuz U lanzando la misión Soyuz 19, parte del Apollo Soyuz Test Project. Características Funcionalidad Lanzadera espacial orbital …   Wikipedia Español

  • Soyuz 11 — Insignia de la misión Datos de la misión Nombre: Soyuz 11 Cohete lanzador: Soyuz (11A511) Nombre en clave: Янтарь (Yantar …   Wikipedia Español

  • Soyuz 2A — is the unofficial designation for a cancelled space flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. It would have flown alongside the Soyuz 1 mission, except for a technical reasons the flight was cancelled, which resulted in saving the lives of the crew.In the… …   Wikipedia

  • Soyuz 3 — Insignia de la misión Datos de la misión Misión: Soyuz 3 Nave Espacial: Soyuz 7K OK Número de trip …   Wikipedia Español

  • Soyuz 27 — Datos de la misión Misión: Soyuz 27 Nave Espacial: Soyuz 7K T Número de tripulantes: 2 Despegue: 10 de enero de 1978 Aterrizaje …   Wikipedia Español

  • Soyuz 29 — Datos de la misión Misión: Soyuz 29 Nave Espacial: Soyuz 7K T Número de tripulantes: 2 Despegue: 15 de junio de 1978 Aterrizaje …   Wikipedia Español

  • Soyuz 32 — Insignia de la misión Datos de la misión Misión: Soyuz 32 Nave Espacial: Soyuz 7K T Número de tripulantes …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”