Soyuz 7

This article is about a 1969 spaceflight. For the proposed carrier rocket, see Soyuz-7 (rocket). For the mission identified by NASA as ISS Soyuz 7, see Soyuz TMA-3.

Soyuz 7

Filipchenko, Volkov and Gorbatko on a 1969 commemorative stamp of Soviet Union
Mission type	Test flight
Operator	Soviet space program
COSPAR ID	1969-086A
SATCAT no.	04124
Mission duration	4 days 22 hours 40 minutes 23 seconds
Orbits completed	80
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz 7K-OK No.15
Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-OK (passive)
Manufacturer	Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1)
Launch mass	6570 kg
Landing mass	1200 kg
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Anatoly Filipchenko Vladislav Volkov Viktor Gorbatko
Callsign	Буран (Buran - "Blizzard")
Start of mission
Launch date	12 October 1969, 10:44:42 GMT
Rocket	Soyuz
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 1/5
End of mission
Landing date	17 October 1969, 09:25:05 GMT
Landing site	155 km at the northwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	210.0 km
Apogee altitude	223.0 km
Inclination	51.65°
Period	88.77 minutes
Soyuz programme

Soyuz 7 (Russian: Союз 7, Union 7) was part of an October, 1969, joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts.

The crew consisted of commander Anatoly Filipchenko, flight engineer Vladislav Volkov and research-cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko, whose mission was to dock with Soyuz 8 and transfer crew, as the Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 missions did. Soyuz 6 was to film the operation from nearby.

However, this objective was not achieved due to equipment failures. Soviet sources later claimed that no docking had been intended, but this seems unlikely, given the docking adapters carried by the spacecraft, and the fact that the Soyuz 8 crew were both veterans of the previous successful docking mission. This was the last time that the Soviet crewed Moon landing hardware was tested in orbit, and the failure seems to have been one of the final nails in the coffin of the programme.

The radio call sign of the spacecraft was Buran, meaning blizzard, which years later was re-used as the name of the entirely different spaceplane Buran. This word is apparently used as the name of an active or aggressive squadron in Soviet military training, and just like Soyuz 4, the Soyuz 7 spacecraft was constructed to be the active or male spacecraft in its docking.

Crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Anatoly Filipchenko First spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Vladislav Volkov First spaceflight
Research Engineer	Viktor Gorbatko First spaceflight

Backup Crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Vladimir Shatalov
Flight Engineer	Aleksei Yeliseyev
Research Engineer	Pyotr Kolodin

Reserve Crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Andriyan Nikolayev
Flight Engineer	Georgy Grechko

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6,570 kg (14,480 lb)
• Perigee: 210.0 km (130.5 mi)
• Apogee: 223.0 km (138.6 mi)
• Inclination: 51.65°
• Period: 88.77 minutes

Mission

The mission objectives included:

• checkout the modified structure of the Soyuz craft,
• further improvement of the control, orientation, and orbital stabilisation systems and navigation aids,
• debugging the piloting systems by orbital maneuvering of the spaceships in relation to one another,
• testing of a system for control of the simultaneous flight of three spacecraft,
• scientific observations and photographing of geological-geographical subjects and exploration of the Earth's atmosphere,
• studying circumterrestrial space,
• conducting experiments of engineering research and biomedical engineering importance.

Return

The ship was involved in group flight with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8. Docking did not occur, and the ship landed 5 days after launch, at 155 km at the northwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan.