Soyuz T-7
Soyuz T-7 (Russian: Союз Т-7; code name Dnieper) was the third Soviet space mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Crew member Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman in space in almost twenty years, since Valentina Tereshkova who flew in 1963 on Vostok 6.
| COSPAR ID | 1982-080A | 
|---|---|
| SATCAT no. | 13425 | 
| Mission duration | 113 days, 1 hour, 50 minutes, 44 seconds | 
| Orbits completed | ~1,825 | 
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz-T | 
| Manufacturer | NPO Energia | 
| Launch mass | 6,850 kilograms (15,100 lb) | 
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 up 2 down | 
| Launching | Leonid Popov Aleksandr Serebrov Svetlana Savitskaya | 
| Landing | Anatoli Berezovoy Valentin Lebedev | 
| Callsign | Днепр (Dnieper) | 
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | August 19, 1982, 17:11:52 UTC | 
| Rocket | Soyuz-U | 
| Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 | 
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | December 10, 1982, 19:02:36 UTC | 
| Landing site | (70 kilometres (43 mi) NE of Arkalyk?) | 
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric | 
| Regime | Low Earth | 
| Perigee altitude | 289 kilometres (180 mi) | 
| Apogee altitude | 299 kilometres (186 mi) | 
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees | 
| Period | 90.3 minutes | 
| Docking with Salyut 7 | |
| Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) | |
Savitskaya was given the orbital module of Soyuz T-7 for privacy. The Soyuz T-7 crew delivered experiments and mail from home to the Elbrus crew. On August 21 the five cosmonauts traded seat liners between the Soyuz Ts. The Dnieper undocked in Soyuz T-5, leaving the newer Soyuz T-7 spacecraft for the long-duration crew.[1]
Crew
    
| Position | Launching crew | Landing crew | 
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Leonid Popov Third and last spaceflight |  Anatoli Berezovoy Only spaceflight | 
| Flight Engineer |  Aleksandr Serebrov First spaceflight |  Valentin Lebedev Second and last spaceflight | 
| Research Cosmonaut |  Svetlana Savitskaya First spaceflight | None | 
Backup crew
    
| Position | Crew | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Vladimir Vasyutin | |
| Flight Engineer |  Viktor Savinykh | |
| Research Cosmonaut |  Irina Pronina | |
Mission highlights
    
Soyuz T-7 was an early flight to Salyut 7, the Soviet successor to Salyut 6. The crew which launched on Soyuz T-7 remained aboard the station for eight days, as a short-term "visiting crew", accompanying the station's long-term resident crew. The crew exchanged Soyuz vehicles with the resident crew, returning home in the older Soyuz T-5, leaving the fresher Soyuz T-7 available to the resident crew as a return vehicle.[2] This practice had been used several times on Salyut 6.
Savitskaya became the second woman in space,[3] and the first to visit a space station.
Mission parameters
    
- Mass: 6,850 kg
- Perigee: 289 km
- Apogee: 299 km
- Inclination: 51.6°
- Period: 90.3 minutes
Gallery
    
.jpg.webp) Dnieper crew Dnieper crew
 Elbrus crew Elbrus crew
See also
    
    
References
    
- D. S. F. Portree (1995). "Mir Hardware Heritage" (PDF). NASA. p. 49, 93. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2003-07-09.
- "Soyuz T-7". Spacefacts.
- Yenne, Bill (1988). The Pictorial History of World Spaceflight. Exeter. pp. 150–155. ISBN 0-7917-0188-3.
