Oct 1 1980
From The Space Library
Cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin set a new record for spaceflight duration, breaking the mark of 175 days, 36 minutes set last year by a crew in Soyuz 32. Ryumin had been on that record mission also; he had stayed on Earth for only 236 days since February 25, 1979. Popov, 40, and Ryumin, 34, had set out April 9, 1980, in Soyuz 35 to occupy the orbiting Salyut 6 launched September 29, 1977, one of 13 crews to visit the 20-ton 49-foot-long space station.
Three times during the spring and summer visiting crews brought the "permanent occupants" food and experiment materials, life-support equipment, and companionship. These relief missions included the first Vietnamese, Hungarian, and Cuban cosmonauts. Earlier this week, an unmanned cargo ship Progress 11 arrived with fresh supplies of food, fuel, and technical equipment for the cosmonauts. The Soviet Union had not set a time limit for the Salyut-Soyuz flight; Popov and Ryumin reported themselves healthy. (NY Times, Oct 2/80, A-17)
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