Soyuz 9
Encyclopedia
Soyuz 9 was a 1970 Soviet manned space flight. The two-man crew of Andrian Nikolayev
and Vitali Sevastyanov
broke the five-year-old space endurance record with their nearly 18-day flight. The mission paved the way for the Salyut
space station
missions, investigating the effects of long-term weightlessness
on crew, and evaluating the work that the cosmonauts could do in orbit, individually and as a team.
Commander Andrian Nikolayev
and flight-engineer Vitaly Sevastyanov spent eighteen days in space conducting various physiological and biomedical experiments on themselves, but also investigating the social implications of prolonged spaceflight. The cosmonauts spent time in two-way TV links with their families, watched the World Cup football game, played chess (including this chess game with the crew as white; it was the first chess game played across space) with ground control, and voted in a Soviet election. The mission set a new space endurance record and marked a shift in emphasis away from spacefarers merely being able to exist in space for the duration of a long mission (such as the Apollo flights to the moon) and being able to live in space.
On their return to Earth, the crew was found to have weakened considerably, and it took some ten days for them to regain their strength. In orbit, they had sacrificed some of their exercise time for the sake of carrying out their scientific work, and their bodies' reactions to the prolonged weightlessness
emphasised the importance of maintaining regular exercise.
Andrian Nikolayev
Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev , was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was an ethnic Chuvash.- History :...
and Vitali Sevastyanov
Vitali Sevastyanov
Vitaly Ivanovich Sevastyanov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 9 and Soyuz 18 missions.He trained as an engineer at the Moscow Aviation Institute and after graduation in 1959, joined Sergey Korolev's design bureau, where he worked on the design of the Vostok spacecraft. He also lectured...
broke the five-year-old space endurance record with their nearly 18-day flight. The mission paved the way for the Salyut
Salyut
The Salyut program was the first space station program undertaken by the Soviet Union, which consisted of a series of nine space stations launched over a period of eleven years from 1971 to 1982...
space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
missions, investigating the effects of long-term weightlessness
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
on crew, and evaluating the work that the cosmonauts could do in orbit, individually and as a team.
Crew
Backup Crew
Reserve Crew
Mission Highlights
Andrian Nikolayev
Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev , was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was an ethnic Chuvash.- History :...
and flight-engineer Vitaly Sevastyanov spent eighteen days in space conducting various physiological and biomedical experiments on themselves, but also investigating the social implications of prolonged spaceflight. The cosmonauts spent time in two-way TV links with their families, watched the World Cup football game, played chess (including this chess game with the crew as white; it was the first chess game played across space) with ground control, and voted in a Soviet election. The mission set a new space endurance record and marked a shift in emphasis away from spacefarers merely being able to exist in space for the duration of a long mission (such as the Apollo flights to the moon) and being able to live in space.
On their return to Earth, the crew was found to have weakened considerably, and it took some ten days for them to regain their strength. In orbit, they had sacrificed some of their exercise time for the sake of carrying out their scientific work, and their bodies' reactions to the prolonged weightlessness
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
emphasised the importance of maintaining regular exercise.
Mission parameters
- Mass: 6590 kg (14,530 lb)
- Perigee: 176 km (109 mi)
- Apogee: 227 km (141 mi)
- Inclination: 51.6°
- Period: 88.5 min