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 | Third and last spaceflight |
Only spaceflight |
| Flight Engineer | First spaceflight |
Second and last spaceflight |
| Research Cosmonaut | First spaceflight |
None |
Backup crew
| Position | Crew | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | ||
| Flight Engineer | ||
| Research Cosmonaut | ||
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
Dnieper 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.
