May 24 1975
From The Space Library
24 May-26 July. The U.S.S.R. launched Soyuz 18, carrying cosmonauts Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov, from Baykonur cosmodrome at 7:58 pin local time (10:58 am EDT). According to the Tass news agency, the spacecraft entered orbit with a 247-km apogee, 193-km perigee, 88.6-min period, and 51.6° inclination. Tass announced that the purpose of the mission was "to conduct further experiments with the orbital research station 'Salyut-4,' started on January 12, during the joint flight of the delivery spaceship 'Soyuz 17' and the station ‘Salyut-4’ as well as to test individual elements and systems of the spaceship in various modes of flight." During the first day in orbit Klimuk and Sevastyanov checked out essential spacecraft and life-support systems and prepared for orbital maneuvering. The crew switched on the main engines twice on 25 May to raise the spacecraft's orbit in preparation for rendezvous and docking with Salyut 4 . On 26 May Soyuz 18 approached the station by an automatic control system. At a distance of 100 km the crew took over control and manually docked the spacecraft with the Salyut 4 station in pitch darkness. After docking, the crew switched on the station's lights and began activation and checkout of the onboard systems. The crew transferred equipment and boarded the station where they found a "Welcome to our common home" sign left by the station's previous tenants, Soyuz 17 cosmonauts Aleksey Gubarev and Georgy Grechko. The cosmonauts reported that all systems were operating normally and that they themselves were in good health. By 28 May the station and spacecraft were in an orbit with a 349-km apogee, 338-km perigee, 91.4-min period, and 51.6° inclination.
During their 63 days in orbit, the cosmonauts studied the sun, planets, and stars in various bands of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation using several x-ray telescopes, including one called "Filin"; investigated geological-morphological objects on the earth's surface, photographing the U.S.S.R. in the medium and southern latitudes; studied physical processes in the earth's atmosphere and in space; performed medical and biological research with particular emphasis on the impact of weightlessness on the human organism; and tested the station's design and onboard systems. The cosmonauts also raised a garden of onions and peas as a forerunner of providing self-sufficient food supplies in space. Tass reported that, for the first time during a space flight, the polar lights were investigated using integral photography and spectrography methods.
Twice during the mission Klimuk and Sevastyanov spoke with cosmonauts Aleksei A. Leonov and Valery N. Kubasov who were also in orbit participating in the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project begun 15 July.
By 23 July the cosmonauts were preparing the space station for automatic operation. On 26 July at 3:56 pm Baykonur time (6:56 am EDT), Soyuz 18 and its crew undocked from Salyut 4 . They softlanded 56 km northeast of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan at 7:18 pin Baykonur time (10:18 am EDT).
Tass reported that by 27 July the cosmonauts' slight pulse and blood pressure fluctuations noted immediately after landing had returned to normal. Decreases in erythrocytes and increases in leucocytes disappeared after a few days, and in I or 2 wk orthostatic stability and resistance to functional tests had almost reached preflight baselines. Both Klimuk and Sevastyanov had lost some weight- 3.8 kilograms and 1.9 kilograms respectively-during the mission.
The Soyuz 18 crew's 62-day 23-hr 40-min mission broke the previous 29-day 13-hr 20-min Soviet record for time in space set by the Soyuz 17. The current world's record for time in space was held by the Skylab 4 astronauts for their 84-day 1-hr 16-min mission, 16 Nov. 1973 to 8 Feb. 1974.
Salyut 4 , which had been visited by the two crews of Soyuz 17 and 18, was the fourth space station orbited by the U.S.S.R. Salyut 1 had been launched 19 April 1971. A three-man crew, launched on Soyuz 10, docked with the station on 24 April but returned to earth without entering. The Soyuz 11 crew, launched 6 June 1971, boarded the station and conducted experiments for 24 days but were killed during a reentry accident. Salyut 2 was launched 3 April 1973 but an explosion of wildly firing thrusters sent the station out of control, tearing off the solar panels and making the station uninhabitable. Salyut 3 was orbited 25 June 1974 and a two-man crew, carried by Soyuz 14, lived and worked aboard the station from 3-19 July 1974. A second crew, launched 26 Aug. 1974, returned to earth in 48 hr after an unsuccessful attempt to dock with the station, which itself reentered the earth's atmosphere 26 Sept. 1974. (Tass, FBIS- Sov, 24 May- 28 July 75; GSFC `Wkly SSR, 22-28 May 75; AP, B Sun, 27 July 75, A3; Lib of Congress, "S&T News Alert," No 2600, 19 Sept 75)
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