Soyuz T-1 (russian: link=no, Союз Т-1, also called Soyuz T) was a 1979-80 unmanned Soviet space flight, a test flight of a new

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 which docked with the orbiting

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 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 i ...

Mission parameters

*Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-ST *Mass: 6450 kg *Crew: None *Launched: 16 December 1979 *Landed: 25 March 1980

Mission highlights

Four months had passed since the last Salyut 6 crew (

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 ...

) had landed, and since the same amount of time had passed between the previous space station's long-duration crews, a December 1979 launch was considered a real possibility by observers. However, though the secretive Soviets did launch a craft that month, it was not what observers expected. Soyuz T-1 was launched 16 December, and was the fourth unmanned test flight of a modified version of the Soyuz spacecraft, the first to be given a "Soyuz" designation. Two days later, it approached the space station, but overshot it. A second dock attempt was made 19 December, and Soyuz T-1 successfully docked at the forward port. The Soyuz lifted the orbit of the space station on 25 December and remained docked to it for 95 days, during which time the station remained unoccupied. It undocked on 23 March 1980, performed several days of tests, then was de-orbited 25 March. The landing date was outside a normal landing window as the craft was being flight-rated over the standard months and the Soviets were planning to launch

Soyuz 35 Soyuz 35 (russian: Союз 35, ''Union 35'') was a 1980 Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the 10th mission to and eighth successful docking at the orbiting facility. The Soyuz 35 crew were the fourth long-duration ...

during the next launch window in April. The mission was unusual for several reasons. Unlike other previous long unmanned missions, Soyuz T-1 was not powered down while docked to the space station. And, its recovery saw a change from the norm as well. Previous Soyuz missions saw the entire spacecraft de-orbit. But with the Soyuz T craft, the orbital module was separated prior to retro-fire, to save propellant. This allowed for more maneuvers prior to de-orbit.

Mission parameters

Mission highlights

References

Further reading