Soyuz 9

This article is about a 1970 spaceflight. For the mission identified by NASA as ISS Soyuz 9, see Soyuz TMA-5.
Soyuz 9
Operator Soviet space program
COSPAR ID 1970-041A
Mission duration 17 days, 16 hours, 58 minutes, 55 seconds
Orbits completed 288
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Soyuz 7K-OK
Manufacturer Experimental Design Bureau OKB-1
Launch mass 6,590 kilograms (14,530 lb)
Crew
Crew size 2
Members Andrian Nikolayev
Vitaly Sevastyanov
Callsign Сокол (Sokol – "Falcon")
Start of mission
Launch date 1 June 1970, 19:00:00 (1970-06-01UTC19Z) UTC
Rocket Soyuz
Launch site Baikonur 31/6[1]
End of mission
Landing date 19 June 1970, 11:58:55 (1970-06-19UTC11:58:56Z) UTC
Landing site 50°N 72°E / 50°N 72°E / 50; 72
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 176 kilometres (109 mi)
Apogee 227 kilometres (141 mi)
Inclination 51.6 degrees
Period 88.5 minutes


Soyuz programme
(Manned missions)
 Soyuz 8 Soyuz 10

Soyuz 9 (Russian: Союз 9, Union 9) was a 1970 Soviet manned space flight. The two-man crew of Andrian Nikolayev and Vitali Sevastyanov broke the five-year-old space endurance record held by Gemini 7, with their nearly 18-day flight. The mission paved the way for the Salyut space station missions, investigating the effects of long-term weightlessness on crew, and evaluating the work that the cosmonauts could do in orbit, individually and as a team. It was also the last flight of the first-generation Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft, as well as the first manned space launch to be conducted at night. To date, Soyuz 9 marks the longest manned flight by a solo spacecraft.

Crew

Position[2] Cosmonaut
Commander Andrian Nikolayev
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer Vitaly Sevastyanov
First spaceflight

Backup crew

Position Cosmonaut
Commander Anatoly Filipchenko
Flight Engineer Georgy Grechko

Reserve crew

Position Cosmonaut
Commander Vasily Lazarev
Flight Engineer Valeri Yazdovsky

Mission highlights

Soyuz 9 on the 1971 USSR commemorative stamp "424 hours On Earth's Orbit"

Commander Andriyan Nikolayev and flight engineer Vitaly Sevastyanov spent 18 days in space conducting various physiological and biomedical experiments on themselves, but also investigating the social implications of prolonged spaceflight. The cosmonauts spent time in two-way TV links with their families, watched the World Cup football game, played chess (including this chess game with the crew as white; it was the first chess game played across space) with ground control, and voted in a Soviet election. The mission set a new space endurance record and marked a shift in emphasis away from spacefarers merely being able to exist in space for the duration of a long mission (such as the Apollo flights to the moon) to being able to live in space.

The mission took an unexpected physical toll on the cosmonauts; in order to conserve attitude control gas during the lengthy stay in orbit, Soyuz 9 was placed in a spin-stabilization mode that made Nikolayev and Sevastyanov dizzy and space sick. When landing finally came, they required help exiting the descent module and were virtually unable to walk for a few days. Nonetheless, this experience proved the importance of providing crews with exercise equipment during missions.

Mission parameters

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Soyuz 9.
  1. "Baikonur LC31". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  2. Mir Hardware Heritage – 1.7.3 (wikisource)
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