May 14 1981
From The Space Library
The Soviet Union launched from Baykonur the Soyuz 40 spacecraft crewed by Leonid Popov, who in 1980 achieved a world space-endurance record of 185 days with fellow cosmonaut Valery Ryumin, and Dumitru Prunariu of Romania's air force. Tass said the ship would dock with orbiting space station Salyut 6, occupied since March 14 by Vladimir Kovalenok and Viktor Savinykh.
This flight, ninth in the Intercosmos program of launching a Soviet cosmonaut with one from another country, would complete the first round that began in March 1978 with representatives from Bulgaria, East Germany, Poland, Cuba, Hungary, Vietnam, Czechoslovakia, and Mongolia. (W Star, May 15/81, A-16)
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