Soyuz 7

Soyuz 7

Mission type	Test flight
Operator	Soviet space program
Mission duration	4 days, 22 hours, 40 minutes, 23 seconds
Orbits completed	80
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-OK(A)
Manufacturer	Experimental Design Bureau OKB-1
Launch mass	6,570 kilograms (14,480 lb)
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 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5[1]
End of mission
Landing date	17 October 1969, 09:25:05 UTC
Landing site	155 kilometres (96 mi) NW of Karaganda
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	210 kilometres (130 mi)
Apogee	223 kilometres (139 mi)
Inclination	51.7 degrees
Period	88.8 minutes
Soyuz programme (Manned missions) ← Soyuz 6 Soyuz 8 →

Soyuz 7 (Russian: Союз 7, Union 7) was part of a 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 manned 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	Georgi Grechko

References

1. "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-03-04.