Soyuz 7 (russian: Союз 7, ''Union 7'') was part of an October, 1969, joint mission with Soyuz 6 and

Soyuz 8 Soyuz 8 (russian: Союз 8, ''Union 8'') was part of an October, 1969, joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 7 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts. The crew consisted of ...

that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven

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 ...

s. The crew consisted of commander

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 ...

, flight engineer

Vladislav Volkov Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov (russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Во́лков; 23 November 193529 June 1971) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 11 missions. The second mission terminated fatally.

and research-cosmonaut

Viktor Gorbatko Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbatko (russian: Ви́ктор Васи́льевич Горбатко́; 3 December 1934 – 17 May 2017) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 7, Soyuz 24, and Soyuz 37 missions. Early life Viktor Vasilievich Go ...

, whose mission was to dock with Soyuz 8 and transfer crew, as the

Soyuz 4 Soyuz 4 (russian: Союз 4, ''Union 4'') was launched on 14 January 1969, carrying cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov on his first flight. The aim of the mission was to dock with Soyuz 5, transfer two crew members from that spacecraft, and retur ...

and

Soyuz 5 Soyuz 5 (russian: Союз 5, ''Union 5'') was a Soyuz mission using the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union on 15 January 1969, which docked with Soyuz 4 in orbit. It was the first docking of two crewed spacecraft of any nat ...

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 crewed 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 , 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

, the Soyuz 7 spacecraft was constructed to be the active or male spacecraft in its docking.

Crew

Backup Crew

Reserve Crew

Mission parameters

* Mass: * Perigee: * Apogee: * Inclination: 51.65° * Period: 88.77 minutes

Mission

The mission objectives included: * checkout the modified structure of the Soyuz craft, * further improvement of the control, orientation, and orbital stabilisation systems and navigation aids, * debugging the piloting systems by orbital maneuvering of the spaceships in relation to one another, * testing of a system for control of the simultaneous flight of three spacecraft, * scientific observations and photographing of geological-geographical subjects and exploration of the

Earth's atmosphere The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing fo ...

, * studying circumterrestrial space, * conducting experiments of

engineering research Engineering research seeks improvements in theory and practice in fields such as (for example) high-speed computation, bioengineering, earthquake prediction, power systems, nanotechnology and construction. Major contributors to engineering rese ...

and

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

importance.

Return

The ship was involved in group flight with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8. Docking did not occur, and the ship landed 5 days after launch, at 155 km at the northwest of

Karaganda Karaganda or Qaraghandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandy, ; russian: Караганда, ) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astan ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

References

{{Orbital launches in 1969 Crewed Soyuz missions Spacecraft launched in 1969 1969 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft which reentered in 1969