Soyuz T-4 was a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
space mission which launched the crew of Salyut 6 EO-6, the sixth and final long-duration crew of the
Salyut 6
Salyut 6 (russian: Салют-6; lit. Salute 6), DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme. It was launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket. Salyut 6 was the first space station to receiv ...
space station. It was launched on 12 March 1981 and docked with the station the next day.
During their stay, the EO-6 crew was visited by
Soyuz 39
Soyuz 39 was a 1981 Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the fifteenth expedition, and carried the eighth international crew to the orbiting facility. The crew visited Vladimir Kovalyonok and Viktor Savinykh, who had r ...
and
Soyuz 40
The Soyuz 40 mission was a 1981 Soviet crewed spaceflight and the final flight of the Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft. It was a collaboration between the Soviet Union and Romania.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english ...
. Soyuz T-4 returned to Earth on 26 May 1981; its crew were the last to have inhabited Salyut 6.
Crew
Backup crew
Mission parameters
*Mass: 6850 kg
*Perigee: 201 km
*Apogee: 250 km
*Inclination: 51.6°
*Period: 88.7 minutes
Mission highlights
The docking with Salyut 6 was delayed after the Soyuz's onboard Argon computer determined it would occur outside radio range with the TsUP.
Despite this, the docking occurred successfully on 13 March 1981. The Progress 12 spacecraft was already docked to the station by the time the crew arrived, and they spent several days unloading the Progress before its undocking on 19 March.
This freed the remaining docking port for the arrival of the
Soyuz 39/EP-9 crew on 22 March.
In mid-May, Kovalyonok and Savinykh replaced the spacecraft's probe with a Salyut drogue. This may have been an experiment to see if a Soyuz-T docked to a space station could act as a rescue vehicle in the event that an approaching Soyuz-T equipped with a probe experienced docking difficulties and could not return to Earth.
The EO-6 crew undocked from Salyut 6 on 26 May, leaving behind the Soyuz's orbital module. Soyuz T-4 landed over three hours later, touching down east of
Dzhezkazgan,
Kazakh SSR
; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы)
*1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы)
, linking_name = the ...
.
See also
*
List of human spaceflights to Salyut space stations
This is a chronological list of human spaceflights to the Salyut space stations. Prior to Salyut 6, flights were referred to by the designation of the Soyuz spacecraft that transported the crew to and from the station. Flights to Salyut 6 and Salyu ...
*
List of Salyut expeditions
This is a chronological list of expeditions to the Salyut space stations. Initially these expeditions were not numbered, however the crews of Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 were numbered , where ''n'' is sequentially increased with each expedition to that p ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyuz T-04
Crewed Soyuz missions
Spacecraft launched in 1981
1981 in the Soviet Union
Spacecraft which reentered in 1981