1983 was a less than successful year for Salyut 7's mission planners. It started and finished badly.
First - Soyuz T-8 failed to dock as a result of the pylon supporting its rendezvous radar aerial having been damaged during launch, possibly by the Soyuz rocket's shroud as it pulled away during the ascent to orbit. Had the mission been successful then we would probably have seen a new endurance record, beating the 211 days by Valentin Lebedev and Anatoly Berezovoi the previous year.
Later in the year, the mission that was intended to be Soyuz T-10 failed when the Soyuz rocket caught fire on the launch pad. The crew and their cabin was pulled clear by the Soyuz emergency escape rocket. They landed heavily some four to five kilometres from the launch pad.
Date (UTC) |
Time (UTC) |
Event |
1983 Mar 2 |
09:30 |
Cosmos 1443, a 20 tonne spacecraft carrying cargo, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Proton rocket into 189 x 257 kilometre orbit |
1983 Mar 10 |
09:20 |
Cosmos 1443 docks at the forward port of Salyut 7 - orbit is 292 x 331 kilometres |
1983 Apr 20 |
13:10 |
Soyuz T-8 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 196 x 213 kilometre orbit with Vladimir Titov, Gennady Strekalov and Aleksandr Serebrov aboard |
1983 Apr 21 |
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Soyuz T-8 approaches Salyut 7 but fails to dock because of an inoperative radar system - damage was caused to its rendezvous radar mast during the launch - Soyuz T-8 orbit after the docking attempt is 285 x 304 kilometres, Salyut 7 orbit is 287 x 300 kilometres |
1983 Apr 22 |
13:29 |
Soyuz T-8 lands - 60 kilometres north-east of Arkalyk |
1983 Jun 27 |
09:12 |
Soyuz T-9 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 197 x 227 kilometre orbit with Vladimir Lyakhov and Aleksandr Aleksandrov aboard |
1983 Jun 28 |
10:46 |
Soyuz T-9 docks at the aft port of Salyut 7 - orbit is 324 x 336 kilometres |
1983 Aug 14 |
14:04 |
Cosmos 1443 undocks from Salyut 7 |
1983 Aug 16 |
14:25 |
Lyakhov and Aleksandrov undock Soyuz T-9, wait for Salyut 7 to execute a 180 degree turn, and re-dock with the forward port of Salyut 7 |
1983 Aug 17 |
12:08 |
Progress 17 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 189 x 241 kilometre orbit |
1983 Aug 19 |
13:47 |
Progress 17 docks at the aft port of Salyut 7 - orbit is 319 x 340 kilometres |
1983 Aug 23 |
11:02 |
Cosmos 1443 re-entry vehicle, containing equipment and experimental material to be returned to Earth, separates from the main part of the spacecraft |
1983 Aug 23 |
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Cosmos 1443 re-entry vehicle fires its retro rocket, enters the Earth atmosphere and lands in Khazakhstan by parachute |
1983 Sep 17 |
11:44 |
Progress 17 undocks |
1983 Sep 17 |
23:43 |
Progress 17 fires its manoeuvring engine to initiate re-entry |
1983 Sep 18 |
00:30 |
Approx time - Progress 17 enters the Earth atmosphere above the southern Pacific Ocean and is destroyed by frictional heating |
1983 Sep 19 |
00:23 |
Cosmos 1443 fires its manoeuvring engine to initiate re-entry |
1983 Sep 19 |
01:10 |
Approx time - Cosmos 1443 enters the Earth atmosphere above the southern Pacific Ocean and is destroyed by frictional heating |
1983 Sep 27 |
19:38 |
A Soyuz T launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome fails when the Soyuz rocket catches fire - cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Gennady Strekalov use the Soyuz escape rocket system to pull the crew cabin clear of the pad before the launcher explodes - they land heavily about 5 kilometres away |
1983 Oct 20 |
09:59 |
Progress 18 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 184 x 242 kilometre orbit |
1983 Oct 22 |
11:34 |
Progress 18 docks at the aft port of Salyut 7 - orbit is 318 x 357 kilometres |
1983 Nov 1 |
04:47 |
Lyakhov and Aleksandrov start space walk to add banks of solar cells to Salyut 7 upper solar panel |
1983 Nov 1 |
07:37 |
Lyakhov and Aleksandrov complete space walk after 2 hr-50 min |
1983 Nov 3 |
03:47 |
Lyakhov and Aleksandrov start space walk to complete installation of solar cells |
1983 Nov 3 |
06:42 |
Lyakhov and Aleksandrov complete space walk after 2 hr-55 min |
1983 Nov 13 |
03:08 |
Progress 18 undocks |
1983 Nov 16 |
04:18 |
Progress 18 fires its manoeuvring engine to initiate re-entry |
1983 Nov 16 |
04:18 |
Approx time - Progress 18 enters the Earth atmosphere above the southern Pacific Ocean and is destroyed by frictional heating |
1983 Nov 23 |
16:40 |
Soyuz T-9 undocks with Lyakhov and Aleksandrov aboard |
1983 Nov 23 |
19:58 |
Soyuz T-9 lands - 160 kilometres east of Dzhezhkazgan, after 150 days in space |
