Backup crew

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6850 kg
• Perigee: 201 km
• Apogee: 229 km
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 88.6 minutes

Mission highlights

4th expedition to Salyut 7

Salyut 7

Salyut 7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first manned in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including a total of 12 manned and 15 unmanned launches...

. Its mission was heavily impacted by the Soyuz T-8

Soyuz T-8

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 6850 kg*Perigee: 200 km*Apogee: 230 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 88.6 minutes-Mission highlights:...

 docking failure and the Soyuz T-10a Soyuz booster failures which bracketed it.

Almost immediately after docking at Salyut 7’s aft port, the crew entered Cosmos 1443 and commenced transferring the 3.5 tons of cargo lining its walls to Salyut 7.

Window impact: On July 27 a small object struck a Salyut 7 viewport. It blasted out a 4-mm crater, but did not penetrate the outer of the window’s two panes. The Soviets believed it was a member of the Delta Aquariid meteor shower

Meteor shower

A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...

, though it may have been a small piece of orbital debris.

The crew loaded Cosmos 1443’s Merkur capsule with 350 kg of experiment results and hardware no longer in use. It could have held 500 kg, had they had that much to put in. Cosmos 1443 then undocked, in spite of Western predictions that the FGB

Zarya

Zarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...

component would remain attached to Salyut 7 as a space station module. The Merkur capsule soft-landed on August 23, and the FGB component continued in orbit until it was deorbited over the Pacific Ocean on September 19.