Soyuz 18

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This article is about the successful mission. For the aborted flight see Soyuz 18a
Soyuz 18
Mission statistics
Mission name Soyuz 18
Crew size 2
Call sign Кавказ (Kavkaz - "Caucasus")
Launch date May 24, 1975
14:58:10 UTC
Gagarin's Start
Landing July 26, 1975
14:18:18 UTC
51° N, 68° E
Mission duration 62d/23:20:08
Number of orbits 993
Related missions
Previous mission Next mission
Soyuz 18a Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Soyuz 18, of the Soyuz spacecraft series, brought cosmonauts Pyotr Klimuk and Vitali Sevastyanov to the Salyut 4 space station where they remained in orbit for 63 days.

The focus of the mission seems to have been research into long-term stays in space, with the crew performing various biomedical experiments and growing plants in orbit. They also made observations of the Earth and Sun.

The crew was on-board Salyut 4 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and contacted the participating astronauts and cosmonauts during that historic mission. ASTP resulted in a tie for the largest number of people in orbit at the same time, seven, matched by Soyuz 6, Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 in 1969.

The name Soyuz 18 was also given to an earlier, unsuccessful Soyuz flight that is now often referred to as Soyuz 18-1 or Soyuz 18a.

[edit] Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

[edit] Backup crew

[edit] Mission parameters

  • Mass: 6825 kg
  • Perigee: 186 km
  • Apogee: 230 km
  • Inclination: 51.7°
  • Period: 88.6 minutes
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Current
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Soyuz-T (1976–1986)
T-2 · T-3 · T-4 · T-5 · T-6 · T-7 · T-8 · T-9 · T-10-1 · T-10 · T-11 · T-12 · T-13 · T-14 · T-15
Soyuz 7K-TM (1975–1976)
19 · 22
Soyuz 7K-T (1973–1981)
12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18a · 18  · 21 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40
Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971)
10 · 11
Soyuz 7K-OK (1966–1971)
1 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9
Unmanned