Soyuz 25
COSPAR ID | 1977-099A |
---|---|
SATCAT no. | 10401 |
Mission duration | 2 days, 44 minutes, 45 seconds |
Orbits completed | 32 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | NPO Energia |
Launch mass | 6,860 kilograms (15,120 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 2 |
Members | Vladimir Kovalyonok Valery Ryumin |
Callsign | Фотон (Foton - "Photon" |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | October 9, 1977, 02:40:35 | UTC
Rocket | 1/5[1] |
End of mission | |
Landing date | October 11, 1977, 03:25:20 | UTC
Landing site | 185 kilometres (115 mi) NW of Tselinograd |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Perigee altitude | 198.5 kilometres (123.3 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 258.1 kilometres (160.4 mi) |
Inclination | 51.66 degrees |
Period | 88.66 minutes |
Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) |
Soyuz 25 (
The failure led to a new rule whereby every crew had to have at least one person aboard who had previously flown in space.[3]
Crew
Position | Cosmonaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Vladimir Kovalyonok First spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | Valery Ryumin First spaceflight |
Backup crew
Position | Cosmonaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Yuri Romanenko | |
Flight Engineer | Aleksandr Ivanchenkov |
Mission highlights
Soyuz 25 was launched on 9 October 1977 with a crew of two cosmonauts to dock with the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, which had been launched 10 days earlier, on 29 September.
The vehicle approached the station the next day, and it contacted the forward port, but the Soyuz craft failed to make a hard dock with the station. The cosmonauts told the ground crew that they had attempted to dock four times, but that the contact light failed to come on. While the crew waited in soft dock - the
On the 20th orbit, Kovalenko undocked the Soyuz, and attempted to dock for the fifth time during the 23rd orbit, but failed again. The decision was made to return to Earth, as the Soyuz was equipped with batteries designed to last about two days, and the craft lacked fuel to attempt to dock with the port on the opposite side of the station.[4]
A news release was issued: "At 07.09 Moscow time today (10 October) the automatic rendezvous of the Soyuz 25 ship and the Salyut 6 station was begun. From a distance of 120 metres, the vehicles performed a docking manoeuvre. Due to deviations from the planned procedure for docking, the link-up was called off. The crew has begun making preparations for a return to Earth."[3]
The crew thus had to make an early
The failure was a serious blow to the Soviets, as their media had given the flight a high profile, noting that the flight had come from the same launchpad as Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1,[3] and coincided with the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution.
The problem was traced later to a faulty mechanism on the Soyuz; this was not discovered until after the
The mission failure resulted in a rule stating that future crews would include at least one cosmonaut who had already flown a space mission.[3] This resulted in the all-rookie backup crew of Aleksandr Ivanchenkov and Yuri Romanenko being paired with veteran cosmonauts for future missions. The rule was not relaxed until 1994 and Soyuz TM-19.
Mission parameters
- Mass: 6,860 kg (15,120 lb)
- Perigee: 198.5 km (123.3 mi)
- Apogee: 258.1 km (160.4 mi)
- Inclination: 51.66°
- Period: 88.66 minutes
References
- ^ "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
- ^ The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-25.htm
- ^ ISBN 0-517-56954-X.
- ^ ISBN 0-87201-848-2.