Soyuz 14

Soyuz 14

Mission duration	15 days, 17 hours, 30 minutes, 28 seconds
Orbits completed	255
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-T/A9
Manufacturer	NPO Energia
Launch mass	6,800 kilograms (15,000 lb)
Crew
Crew size	2
Members	Pavel Popovich Yuri Artyukhin
Callsign	Беркут (Berkut - "Golden Eagle")
Start of mission
Launch date	July 3, 1974, 18:51:08 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5[1]
End of mission
Landing date	July 19, 1974, 12:21:36 UTC
Landing site	140 kilometres (87 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	195 kilometres (121 mi)
Apogee	217 kilometres (135 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Period	88.6 minutes
Docking with Salyut 3
Soyuz programme (Manned missions) ← Soyuz 13 Soyuz 15 →

Soyuz 14 (Russian: Союз 14, Union 14) was a 1974 manned spaceflight to the Salyut 3 space station. Soyuz 14 is also the name given to the Soyuz spacecraft which was used to bring the cosmonauts to and from the station. The mission was part of the Soviet Union's Almaz program to evaluate the military applications of human spaceflight. The mission's crew members were cosmonauts Yuri Artyukhin and Pavel Popovich. At the time, the military nature of this mission and the station itself were not acknowledged by Soviet authorities. The flight was the first successful mission to a space station by the Soviets.^[2] The mission proved to be the only one for Salyut 3 as Soyuz 15 failed to dock with the station in August and the station was de-orbited January 1975. With the American Skylab missions now complete, the flight marked the start of the monopoly of manned space activities by the Soviets until the 1981 launch of STS 1, the first space shuttle flight, save for the joint Apollo-Soyuz flight of 1975.^[3]

Crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Pavel Popovich Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Yuri Artyukhin First spaceflight

Backup crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Gennadi Sarafanov
Flight Engineer	Lev Dyomin

Reserve crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Boris Volynov
Flight Engineer	Vitali Zholobov

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6,800 kg (15,000 lb)
• Perigee: 195 km (121 mi)
• Apogee: 217 km (135 mi)
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 88.6 min

Mission highlights

With the Salyut 3 space station successfully launched on 24 June 1974, Soyuz 14 was sent into orbit nine days later, on 3 July. The craft docked with the space station the next day, performing a manual approach for the last 100 metres.^[3] The crew tested the suitability of Salyut 3 as a manned military reconnaissance platform. They also tested Almaz station systems, such as the solar arrays.^[2]

Increased solar activity raised safety issues, but it was decided radiation levels were within safe limits, so the flight continued.^[3]

Experiments were described by the Soviets, but analysts presumed that much time was taken up with unreported military activities. Claims were made in the aerospace press that objects were laid out at the Baikonur Cosmodrome to photograph to test a high-resolution camera system on board.^[3] Some of the experiments the Soviets described included studies of the heart and circulatory systems in orbit, studies of intracranial pressure, monitoring of blood composition, measuring of lung capacity and inhalation/exhalation rates and the testing of a water purification system which condensed moisture from the station's atmosphere.^[3]

The cosmonauts exercised for two hours each day to counter the effects of weightlessness. Because of this, they were able to climb from their Soyuz descent module without assistance when their flight ended on 19 July. The crew left enough supplies on Salyut 3 to last the next crew at least six months.^[2]

References

1. "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
2. Newkirk, Dennis (1990). Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87201-848-2.
3. Clark, Phillip (1988). The Soviet Manned Space Program. New York: Orion Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-517-56954-X.