Soyuz 34 (russian: Союз 34, ''Union 34'') was a 1979

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, ...

uncrewed An uncrewed vehicle or unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board. Uncrewed vehicles can either be under telerobotic control—remote controlled or remote guided vehicles—or they can be autonomously controlled—autonomous vehicl ...

space flight to 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 recei ...

space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station ...

. It was sent to supply the resident crew a reliable return vehicle after the previous flight,

Soyuz 33 Soyuz 33 (russian: Союз 33, ''Union 33'') was an April, 1979, Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-33.htm It was the ninth mission to the ...

, suffered an engine failure. Mission control decided to re-design the engine used on Soyuz craft as a result of the Soyuz 33 failure, and to return the

Soyuz 32 Soyuz 32 (russian: Союз 32, ''Union 32'') was a 1979 Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-32.htm It was the eighth mission to and seventh ...

craft which transported

Vladimir Lyakhov Vladimir Afanasyevich Lyakhov (russian: Влади́мир Афана́сьевич Ля́хов; 20 July 1941 – 19 April 2018) was a Ukrainian Soviet cosmonaut. He was selected as cosmonaut on 5 May 1967, and retired on 7 September 1994. Lya ...

and

Valery Ryumin Valery Victorovich Ryumin (russian: Валерий Викторович Рюмин; 16 August 1939 – 6 June 2022) was a Soviet cosmonaut. Biography In 1958, he graduated from the Kaliningrad Mechanical Engineering Technical College with the ...

to the space station to earth uncrewed as it had the same suspect engine as Soyuz 33. Soyuz 34 successfully returned the crew to earth 73 days after launching.

Crew

Mission parameters

*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.62° *Period: 88.91 minutes

Mission highlights

Soyuz 34 had been intended to have been launched around 6 June 1979 with a two-man Hungarian/Soviet crew. That crew would have presumably returned in

which had been planned to be docked at the

space station. Suspicions this was originally to be a Hungarian/Soviet flight were confirmed in 1980 when press releases for an upcoming joint mission were still dated June 1979. However, the engine failure during Soyuz 33's flight in April necessitated a shuffling of planned missions. Because the engine used in that flight was the same model already docked at the space station on

and the resident crew of

and

needed a reliable craft to return to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

in, it was decided that the engine needed to be modified and a fresh return vehicle sent to the station - vacant. Soyuz 34 was launched uncrewed on 6 June, and docked at the aft port of the space station on 9 June. The flight itself was a test of the new engine and its success meant the crew had a reliable return craft. Since the craft was uncrewed, some biological samples for experiments were included on the flight. Soyuz 32 was loaded with 130 kg of replaced instruments, processed materials, exposed film and other items with a total weight equal to that of the two cosmonauts. On 13 June, it undocked and returned to Earth uncrewed 295 km northwest of

Dzhezkazgan Jezkazgan, or Zhezkazgan ( kk, Жезқазған, translit=Jezqazğan ), formerly known as Dzhezkazgan (russian: Джезказган) until 1992, is a city and the administrative centre of Ulytau Region, Kazakhstan, on a reservoir of the Kar ...

. The craft was found to be in good condition. The next day, the crew redocked Soyuz 34 at the forward port to clear the aft port for

Progress 7 Progress 7 () was a Soviet unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft, which was launched in June 1979 to resupply the Salyut 6 space station. Spacecraft Progress 7 was a Progress 7K-TG spacecraft. The seventh of forty three to be launched, it had the ...

, a supply tanker. On 19 August, the resident crew returned to earth in Soyuz 34, establishing a new space-endurance record of 175 days, surpassing the 139-day mission by the

Soyuz 29 Soyuz 29 (russian: Союз 29, ''Union 29'') was a 1978 crewed Soviet space mission to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the fifth mission, the fourth successful docking, and the second long-duration crew for the orbiting station. Commander Vla ...

crew in 1978.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1979 Crewed Soyuz missions 1979 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched in 1979 Spacecraft which reentered in 1979 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets