Soyuz T-5

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Soyuz T-5
Mission statistics
Mission name Soyuz T-5
Crew size 2 (at launch)
3 (at landing)
Call sign Эльбру́с (Elbrus)
Launch date May 13, 1982
09:58:05 UTC
Gagarin's Start
Landing August 27, 1982
15:04:16 UTC
225 km E of Dzhezkazgan
Mission duration 106d/05:06:11
Number of orbits 3344
Related missions
Previous mission Next mission
Soyuz 40 Soyuz T-6

Contents

[edit] Crew

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

Launched:

Landed:

[edit] Backup crew

[edit] Mission parameters

  • Mass: 6850 kg
  • Perigee: 190 km
  • Apogee: 231 km
  • Inclination: 51.6°
  • Period: 89.7 minutes

[edit] Mission highlights

1st expedition to Salyut 7. Visited by 2nd and 3rd expeditions.

The Elbrus crew ejected a 28-kg amateur radio satellite from a Salyut 7 trash airlock on May 17. The Soviets called this the first launch of a communications satellite from a manned space vehicle. They did this ahead of the launch of two large geostationary satellites from the U.S. Space Shuttle (STS-5, November 11-16, 1982).

On May 25, the Elbrus crew reoriented Salyut 7 so the aft end of the Progress pointed toward Earth. This placed the station in gravity-gradient stabilization. Lebedev remarked in his diary that the attitude control jets were “very noisy,” and that they sounded like “hitting a barrel with a sledgehammer.” Of Salyut 7 during the unpacking of Progress 13, Lebedev said, “It looks like we’re getting ready to move or have just moved to a new apartment.” The following day the Elbrus crew closed the hatch from the work compartment into the intermediate compartment so the TsUP could pump fuel from Progress 13 to Salyut 7. The crew monitored the operation but played little active role in it. May 29 was spent organizing the supplies delivered. At the same time, according to Lebedev, “we filled the resupply ship with what we don’t need and tied them down with ropes. When I enter the resupply ship, it jingles with a metallic sound, so when we separate it will sound like a brass band.” Progress 13 pumped 300 liters of water aboard on May 31. On June 2 Progress 13 lowered the station’s orbit to 300 km to receive Soyuz T-6.