Apr 19 1983
From The Space Library
April 19-22: The Soviet Union launched from Baykonur three cosmonauts at 5:11 p.m. Moscow time in Soyuz T-8 on a mission to dock with orbital complex Salyut 7-Cosmos 1443. Commander of the mission was Soviet air force Lt. Col. Vladimir Titov as commander, Gennady Strekalov as flight engineer, and Aleksandr Serebrov (who was on a week-long mission in August 1982) as researcher.
Tass later said that "deviations from the planned rendezvous program" canceled plans to dock with the orbital station, and the crew made a soft landing near the city of Arkalyk April 22 at 5:29 p.m. Moscow time. Radio Moscow had said this would be the first time a piloted craft docked with such a huge space complex. Although North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) radar showed the Soyuz and Salyut in close orbits, the Kettering satellite-monitoring group in England said that the mission did not proceed as expected and that communications between the cosmonauts and ground control were "very terse" This was the first failure of a Soyuz T, a type in use for three years. (FBIS, Tass in English, Apr 20/83, Apr 22/83; Beijing Xinhua in English, Apr 22/83; W Post, Apr 19/83, A-20; Apr 22/83, A-1; Apr 23/83, A-1)
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