Soyuz 16 (russian: Союз 16, ''Union 16'') was a December, 1974, crewed test flight for a joint

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, ...

-United States space flight which culminated in the

Apollo–Soyuz Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as a United States Apollo spacecraft docked ...

mission in July 1975. The two-man Soviet crew,

Anatoly Filipchenko Major General Anatoly Vasilyevich Filipchenko (26 February 1928 – 7 August 2022) was a Soviet cosmonaut of Ukrainian descent. He flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 16 missions. He was born in Davydovka, Voronezh Governorate, RSFSR. After leavi ...

and Nikolai Rukavishnikov, tested a docking ring and other systems to be used in the joint flight.

Crew

Backup crew

Reserve crew

Mission parameters

*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.7° *Period: 88.4 minutes

Background

The Soyuz 16 mission was the final rehearsal and first crewed mission in a program which culminated in the

(ASTP) mission seven months later. The

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and the United States,

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

rivals, had signed several

arms control Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is typically exercised through the u ...

treaties in the 1960s and 1970s, and had entered into a period of detente by the early 1970s. In 1972, a treaty was signed to participate in a joint crewed space flight as a symbol of this detente. Early concepts for a joint flight included docking a

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

craft to the American

Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations ...

space station, or an Apollo vehicle docking with a Salyut space station. Once the Americans abandoned their Skylab station in 1974, the Apollo-Salyut concept seemed to be the logical choice, but since the Soviets had started to develop a universal docking adapter for the mission and feared having to publicly reveal details of their military-focused Salyut missions, the two powers opted to link a Soyuz spacecraft with an Apollo spacecraft. Three test flights of an uncrewed version of the ASTP spacecraft were flown: Kosmos 638, launched 3 April 1974; Kosmos 652, launched 15 May 1974; and

Kosmos 672 Kosmos 672 (russian: Космос 672 meaning ''Cosmos 672'') was the second uncrewed test of the ASTP Soyuz spacecraft. Also had APAS-75 The terms Androgynous Peripheral Attach System (APAS), Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System (APAS) and A ...

, launched 12 August 1974. These three flights, and Soyuz 16, were all launched with an improved version of a Soyuz booster.

Mission highlights

In an unprecedented move, Soviet planners offered to inform their

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

counterparts of the time of the launch, as long as they did not reveal that time to the press. NASA officials refused to agree to that condition and, accordingly, were informed of the launch an hour after it occurred, on 2 December 1974. During the flight,

Cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and Nikolai Rukavishnikov tested the androgynous docking system to be used for the ASTP mission by retracting and extending a simulated 20 kg American docking ring. The crew also tested modified environmental systems, new

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

and improved control systems, as well as a new

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...

docking system.

Air pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibars ...

was reduced from 760 mm to 540 mm and

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements ...

raised from 20% to 40% to test reducing the planned transfer time to Apollo from two to one hour. On 7 December 1974, the docking ring was jettisoned with

explosive bolts A pyrotechnic fastener (also called an explosive bolt, or pyro, within context) is a fastener, usually a nut or bolt, that incorporates a pyrotechnic charge that can be initiated remotely. One or more explosive charges embedded within the bolt a ...

to test emergency measures if the capture latches got stuck during the ASTP flight. The craft landed 8 December 1974, near Arkalyk and was hailed a complete success. The mission duration, six days, matched the ASTP mission duration to within 10 minutes.

References

External links

Soyuz 16 Diary
{{Orbital launches in 1974 Crewed Soyuz missions 1974 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched in 1974 Spacecraft which reentered in 1974 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets