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Soyuz 7

Soyuz 7
Mission type Test flight
Operator Soviet space program
COSPAR ID 1969-086A
Mission duration 4 days, 22 hours, 40 minutes, 23 seconds
Orbits completed 80
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Soyuz 7K-OK(A)
Manufacturer Experimental Design Bureau OKB-1
Launch mass 6,570 kilograms (14,480 lb)
Crew
Crew size 3
Members Anatoly Filipchenko
Vladislav Volkov
Viktor Gorbatko
Callsign Буран (Buran - "Blizzard")
Start of mission
Launch date 12 October 1969, 10:44:42 (1969-10-12UTC10:44:42Z) UTC
Rocket Soyuz
Launch site Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date 17 October 1969, 09:25:05 (1969-10-17UTC09:25:06Z) UTC
Landing site 155 kilometres (96 mi) NW of Karaganda
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 210 kilometres (130 mi)
Apogee 223 kilometres (139 mi)
Inclination 51.7 degrees
Period 88.8 minutes

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Soyuz programme
(Manned missions)
← Soyuz 6
Soyuz 8 →

Soyuz-7-patch.png

Soyuz 7 (Russian: Союз 7, Union 7) was part of a joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts.

The crew consisted of commander Anatoly Filipchenko, flight engineer Vladislav Volkov and research-cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko, whose mission was to dock with Soyuz 8 and transfer crew, as the Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 missions did. Soyuz 6 was to film the operation from nearby.

However, this objective was not achieved due to equipment failures. Soviet sources later claimed that no docking had been intended, but this seems unlikely, given the docking adapters carried by the spacecraft, and the fact that the Soyuz 8 crew were both veterans of the previous successful docking mission. This was the last time that the Soviet manned Moon landing hardware was tested in orbit, and the failure seems to have been one of the final nails in the coffin of the programme.

The radio call sign of the spacecraft was Buran, meaning blizzard, which years later was re-used as the name of the entirely different spaceplane Buran. This word is apparently used as the name of an active or aggressive squadron in Soviet military training, and just like Soyuz 4, the Soyuz 7 spacecraft was constructed to be the active or male spacecraft in its docking.


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