Interkosmos
Encyclopedia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
designed to include members of military forces of allied Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
countries in manned and unmanned missions. The participation of countries which were not Soviet allies, such as India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
was a reflection of non-aligned
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
politics during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Begun in April 1967 with unmanned research satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
missions, the first manned mission occurred in February 1978. Interkosmos missions enabled 14 non-Soviet cosmonauts to participate in Soyuz space flights between 1978 and 1988. The program was responsible for sending into space the first citizen of a country other than the USA or USSR; Vladimír Remek
Vladimír Remek
Vladimír Remek is the first Czechoslovak in space and the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. As of 2004, with the entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union Vladimír Remek is considered to be the first astronaut from the EU...
of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Interkosmos also resulted in the first black and Hispanic person in space, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez was the first Cuban citizen and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States to travel into earth orbit...
of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, and the first Asian person in space, Phạm Tuân of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Of the countries involved, only Bulgaria
Bulgarian astronaut program
The Bulgarian astronaut program began in 1977 when members of the Bulgarian People's Air Force where trained for space tasks. Bulgaria is the only country from the Intercosmos program to send two cosmonauts into space in a time when space missions were reserved to the world...
sent two cosmonauts in space.
Manned missions
| Date | Prime | Backup | Country | Mission | |
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Vladimír Remek Vladimír Remek is the first Czechoslovak in space and the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. As of 2004, with the entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union Vladimír Remek is considered to be the first astronaut from the EU... |
Oldrich Pelcak Oldřich Pelčák was a Czech cosmonaut and engineer.He graduated from Gagarin Air Force Military Academy.... |
 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovak Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc.... |
Soyuz 28 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.65°*Period: 88.95 minutes-Mission highlights:... |
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Zenon Jankowski Zenon Jankowski is a retired Polish pilot, colonel of the Polish Army and cosmonaut.Jankowski was selected as backup cosmonaut of Mirosław Hermaszewski for the Soyuz 30 mission.-External links:*... |
 Poland People's Republic of Poland The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later... |
Soyuz 30 Soyuz 30 was a 1978 manned Soviet space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the sixth mission to and fifth successful docking at the orbiting facility... |
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Sigmund Jähn Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn is a German pilot who became the first German to fly in space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos program.-Biography:Jähn was born in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, in the Vogtland district of Saxony, Germany... |
Eberhard Köllner Eberhard Köllner was selected for Soyuz 31 as the backup for Sigmund Jähn.He later became the Director of the Airforce Academy of the German Democratic Republic in the rank of an Oberst , following the reunion of Germany he refused to be transferred to the German Bundeswehr... |
 East Germany |
Soyuz 31 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.64°*Period: 88.81 minutes-Mission highlights:Soyuz 31, the third Intercosmos flight, was launched 26 August 1978... |
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Georgi Ivanov Major general Georgi Ivanov Kakalov is a retired Bulgarian military officer and the first Bulgarian cosmonaut. He was a member of the National Assembly of Bulgaria in 1990.-Early life and military career:... |
Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov is a retired Bulgarian cosmonaut. He is the second Bulgarian to have flown to space behind Georgi Ivanov.-Biography:... |
 Bulgaria |
Soyuz 33 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.63°*Period: 88.99 minutes-Mission highlights:...  |
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Bertalan Farkas Bertalan Farkas was the first Hungarian cosmonaut and the first Esperantist in space. He is currently the president of Airlines Service and Trade... |
Béla Magyari Béla Magyari was Colonel of the Hungarian Air Force. He graduated from The Hungarian Airforce Academy "György Kilián" in 1969.... |
 Hungary People's Republic of Hungary The People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to... |
Soyuz 36 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.62°*Period: 89.0 minutes-Mission highlights:... |
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 Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –... |
Soyuz 37 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.61°*Period: 89.12 minutes-Mission highlights:... |
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Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez was the first Cuban citizen and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States to travel into earth orbit... |
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 Cuba Cuba The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city... |
Soyuz 38 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 6800 kg*Perigee: 199.7 km*Apogee: 273.5 km*Inclination: 51.63°*Period: 88.194 minutes-Mission highlights:...  |
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Zhugderdemidiyn Gurragcha Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa was the first Mongolian and the second Asian in space. He was Mongolia's defense minister from 2000 to 2004.-Early life and spaceflight:... |
Maidarzhavyn Ganzorig Maidarzhavyn Ganzorig |Tsetserleg]], Mongolia) is a Mongolian scientist. In 1978, he participated in the Soviet Intercosmos program and trained for a Soyuz space flight.Ganzorig graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1975... |
 Mongolia |
Soyuz 39 Soyuz 39 was a Soviet space flight.-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 6800 kg*Perigee: 197.5 km*Apogee: 282.8 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 89.01 minutes-Mission highlights:... |
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Dumitru Prunariu Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu is a retired Romanian astronaut who flew aboard Soyuz 40.-Early life and career:Born on September 27, 1952 in Braşov, Romania, Prunariu graduated from the Physics and Mathematics high school in Braşov in 1971 and from the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest in 1976,... |
Dumitru Dediu Dumitru Dediu was a cosmonaut of the Romanian Air Force.In 1978, Dediu was selected as the backup for Dumitru Prunariu for the Soyuz 40 mission. He currently serves in the Romanian Army and lives in Bucharest.-References:... |
 Romania Communist Romania Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions... |
Soyuz 40 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 6800 kg*Perigee: 198.1 km*Apogee: 287 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 89.06 minutes-Mission highlights:... |
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Jean-Loup Chrétien Jean-Loup Jacques Marie Chrétien, is a French engineer, a retired Général de Brigade in the Armée de l'Air , and a former CNES astronaut. He flew on two Franco-Soviet space missions and a NASA Space Shuttle mission... |
Patrick Baudry Patrick Pierre Roger Baudry , is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the French Air Force and a former CNES astronaut... |
 France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Soyuz T-6 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 6850 kg*Perigee: 189 km*Apogee: 233 km*Inclination: 51.7°*Period: 88.7 minutes-Mission highlights:... |
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Rakesh Sharma Wing commander Rakesh Sharma, AC, is a former Indian Air Force test pilot, and Cosmonaut aboard Soyuz T-11 as part of an Intercosmos Research Team... |
Ravish Malhotra Ravish Malhotra is a retired Air Commodore of the Indian Air Force.He became an Air Force test pilot, later stationed at the test center in Bangalore. He was also the Air Officer Commanding of Hindon Air Force Station near Delhi.In 1982, he was chosen to train for spaceflight in the Soviet... |
 India India India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... |
Soyuz T-11 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 6850 kg*Perigee: 195 km*Apogee: 224 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 88.7 minutes-Mission highlights:... |
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Muhammed Faris Muhammed Ahmed Faris is a Syrian military aviator. He was the first Syrian and the second Arab in space.Born in Aleppo, Syria, he was a pilot in the Syrian Air Force with the rank of a colonel... |
 Syria Syria Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.... |
Soyuz TM-3 -Mission parameters:*Mass: 7100 kg*Perigee: 297 km*Apogee: 353 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 91.0 minutes... |
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Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov is a retired Bulgarian cosmonaut. He is the second Bulgarian to have flown to space behind Georgi Ivanov.-Biography:... |
Bulgaria |
Soyuz TM-5 -Launch:Soyuz TM-5 launched on 1988 June 7 and arrived at Mir on June 9 carrying the second Bulgarian in space, Alexandrov . He became the first Bulgarian to reach a Soviet space station... |
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Abdul Ahad Mohmand Abdul Ahad Momand is a former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first Afghan in space when he spent nine days aboard the Mir space station in 1988 as a Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut... |
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 Afghanistan Democratic Republic of Afghanistan The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was a government of Afghanistan between 1978 and 1992. It was both ideologically close to and economically dependent on the Soviet Union, and was a major belligerent of the Afghan Civil War.- Saur Revolution :... |
Soyuz TM-6 Dr. Valeri Polyakov remained behind on Mir with cosmonauts Musa Manarov and Vladimir Titov when Mohmand and Lyakhov returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-5.... |
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Jean-Loup Chrétien Jean-Loup Jacques Marie Chrétien, is a French engineer, a retired Général de Brigade in the Armée de l'Air , and a former CNES astronaut. He flew on two Franco-Soviet space missions and a NASA Space Shuttle mission... |
Michel Tognini Michel Ange-Charles Tognini is a French test pilot, officer in the French Air Force, and a former CNES and ESA astronaut who currently serves as Head of the European Astronaut Centre of the European Space Agency. A veteran of two space flights, Tognini has logged a total of 19 days in space... |
France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Soyuz TM-7 -Mission parameters:*Mass: 7,000 kg 15,400 lb*Perigee: 194 km *Apogee: 235 km *Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 88.8 minutes-Mission highlights:... |
Unmanned missions
- 1970 November 28 - Vertikal-1 Aeronomy/Ionosphere/Solar mission.
- 1971 August 20 - Vertikal-2 Solar Ultraviolet/Solar X-ray mission.
- 1972 April 7 - Interkosmos 6 - Investigation of primary cosmic radiation and meteoritic particles in near-earth outer space.
- 1973 April 4 - Interkosmos 9 "CopernicusNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
-500" - satellite of cooperation of the Polish People's Republic and Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to study the SunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
and ionosphereIonosphereThe ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, comprising portions of the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere...
. Orbit around 200–1550 km. - 1975 June 3 - Interkosmos 14
- 1975 September 2 - Vertikal-3 Solar Ultraviolet/Solar X-ray mission.
- 1976 - Re-entry Vehicle Test mission.
- 1976 June 19 - Interkosmos 15. Testing of new systems and components of satellite under space flight conditions.
- 1977 March 29 - Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space.
- 1977 June 17 - Signe 3 - Twenty French specialists worked on the satellite.
- 1977 August 30 - Vertikal-5 Solar Ultraviolet/Solar X-ray mission.
- 1977 September 24 - Interkosmos 17 - Investigation of energetic charged and neutral particles and micrometeorite fluxes in circumterrestrial space.
- 1977 October 25 - Vertikal-6 Ionosphere/Solar mission?.
- 1978 October 24 - Interkosmos 18 - Conduct of complex investigations on the interaction between the magnetosphere and ionosphere of the earth. Cooperation with the Czechoslovak Socialist RepublicCzechoslovak Socialist RepublicThe Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc....
, the German Democratic RepublicGerman Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, the Hungarian People's Republic, the Polish People's Republic and the Socialist Republic of Romania. - 1978 October 24 - Magion 1 - The Czechoslovak satellite MAGION was launched into orbit by the Soviet spacecraft Interkosmos 18
- 1978 November 3 - Vertikal-7 Ionosphere/Solar mission
- 1979 February 27 - Interkosmos 19 - Cooperation with the People's Republic of Bulgaria, the Czechoslovak Socialist RepublicCzechoslovak Socialist RepublicThe Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc....
, the Hungarian People's Republic and the Polish People's Republic. - 1979 September 26 - Vertikal-8 Solar Ultraviolet/Solar X-ray mission.
- 1979 November 1 - Interkosmos 20. (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Hungarian People's Republic and the Socialist Republic of Romania).
- 1981 - Re-entry Vehicle Test mission.
- 1981 February 6 - Interkosmos 21 - (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Hungarian People's Republic and the Socialist Republic of Romania)
- 1981 August 7 - Interkosmos 22Bulgaria 1300Interkosmos 22, more commonly known as Bulgaria 1300 , is the first artificial satellite of Bulgaria.- Description :The satellite was developed by the Bulgarian Space Agency around the "Meteor" bus, provided by the Soviet Union as part of the Interkosmos program. Assembly took place in Bulgaria,...
"Bulgaria-1300" (People's Republic of Bulgaria). - 1981 August 28 - Vertikal-9 Solar Ultraviolet/Solar X-ray mission.
- 1981 September 21 - Oreol 3 - Developed by Soviet and French specialists under the joint Soviet-French project 'Arkad-3'.
- 1985 April 26 - Interkosmos 23 - Developed by scientists and specialists o f the USSR and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
- 1986 December 18 - Kosmos 1809
- 1989 September 28 - Magion 2 - Magion 2 forms a part of the scientific programme of Interkosmos 24 (project Aktivnyj) Execution of the scientific programme of the 'Aktivny' project in conjunction with Interkosmos-24, permitting simultaneous spatially separating investigations of plasma processes in circumterrestrial space.
- 1989 September 28 - Interkosmos 24 - US participation, in cooperation with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania (the international scientific project entitled 'Aktivny'). Carrying the Czechoslovak Magion-2 satellite.
- 1991 December 18 - Interkosmos 25 - experiments from Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary. Comprehensive study of the effects of artificial impact of modulated electron flows and plasma beams on the ionosphere and magnetosphere of the Earth (forming part of the Apex international scientific project, conducted jointly with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania.)
- 1991 December 18 - Magion 3
- 1994 March 2 - Interkosmos 26 - Conduct of comprehensive investigations of the sun under the Coronas-I international project developed by Russian and Ukrainian experiments in cooperation with specialists from Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, France, and the United Kingdom.