Soyuz 6

Soyuz 6

Mission type	Test flight
Operator	Soviet space program
Mission duration	4 days, 22 hours, 42 minutes, 47 seconds
Orbits completed	80
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-OK
Manufacturer	Experimental Design Bureau OKB-1
Launch mass	6,577 kilograms (14,500 lb)
Crew
Crew size	2
Members	Georgi Shonin Valeri Kubasov
Callsign	Антей (Antey - "Antaeus")
Start of mission
Launch date	11 October 1969, 11:10:00 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz
Launch site	Baikonur 31/6[1]
End of mission
Landing date	16 October 1969, 09:52:47 UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	212 kilometers (132 mi)
Apogee	218 kilometers (135 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Period	88.8 minutes
Soyuz programme (Manned missions) ← Soyuz 5 Soyuz 7 →

Soyuz 6 (Russian: Союз 6, Union 6) was part of a joint mission with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts. The crew of Georgi Shonin and Valeri Kubasov were meant to take high-quality movie photography of the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 docking, but the rendezvous systems on all three spacecraft failed.

It is still not known exactly what the actual problem was, but it is often quoted as being a helium pressurization integrity test.^[2] The version of Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft used for the missions carried a torus-shaped docking electronics equipment housing surrounding the motor assembly on the back of the service module, which is thought to have been pressurised with helium to provide a benign environment for the electronics. It was then jettisoned after docking to lower the mass of the spacecraft for reentry. Due to unstable temperature, disparity between the frequencies of the transmitters and receivers, which were stabilized by special quartz resonators, occurred. The piezocrystals were supposed to be in thermostats at a strictly constant temperature.^[3]

The crew was made up of Shonin and Kubasov, who carried out experiments in space welding. They tested three methods: using an electron beam, a low-pressure plasma arc and a consumable electrode. While welding, Kubasov almost burned through the hull of the vehicle's Living Compartment, which in the absence of spacesuits could have resulted in a catastrophic situation.^[3] The apparatus was designed at the E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute, Kiev, Ukraine. The weld quality was said to be in no way inferior to that of Earth-based welds.^[2]

After eighty orbits of the Earth, they landed on 16 October 1969, 180 km (110 mi) northwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

The radio call sign of the spacecraft was Antey, referring to the Greek hero Antaeus, but at the time of the flight, however, it was also the name of the largest practicable aircraft, the Soviet Antonov 22, made in Ukraine. But unlike the call signs of Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8, it was not the name of a squadron in Soviet military training, of uncertain role, for the one that begins with the letter 'a' is Aktif, meaning "active".

Crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Georgi Shonin First spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Valeri Kubasov First spaceflight

Backup crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Vladimir Shatalov
Flight Engineer	Aleksei Yeliseyev

Reserve crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Andriyan Nikolayev
Flight Engineer	Georgi Grechko

References

1. "Baikonur LC31". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
2. M. Sharpe, Space: The Ultimate Frontier
3. B. Chertok, Rockets and People, Vol. IV

External links

• Astronautix
• Svengrahn