Salyut 6 EO-1
Encyclopedia
Salyut 6 EO-1 was a Soviet
long duration space expedition, the first to dock successfully with the space station Salyut 6
. The two person crew stayed were in space for a record setting 96 days, from December 1977 to March 1978. The expedition was the start of what would be the semi-permanent occupation of space by the Russians.
The expedition set several records and established several milestones, including the longest space flight to that time, the first docking of three spacecraft together, and the hosting of the first non-Soviet, non-American space-farer. Additionally, the mission saw the first spacewalk
by the Soviets since 1969. An important modification from previous Salyut
stations which made many of these feats possible was an extra docking port on Salyut 6, which allowed for re-supply missions, visiting crews and, potentially, crew rotations and permanent occupation.
The crew consisted of Yuri Romanenko
and Georgi Grechko
. Their call sign
for the mission was , after the Russian peninsula
. The crew were launched aboard Soyuz 26
, and are often referred to as the Soyuz 26 crew, even though they returned to earth aboard Soyuz 27
, a few months after the Soyuz 26 spacecraft had been landed.
, and the secord spaceflight of the flight engineer Georgi Grechko
, who flew on the 29 day Soyuz 17
mission to Salyut 4
. Soyuz 17, at the time, held the record for Soviet mission duration, and EO-1 would also break the mission duration record (surpassing USA's Skylab 4
mission, which lasted 84 days).
The backup crew for EO-1 was Vladimir Kovalyonok
, who would have been Commander, and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov
who would have been flight engineer. Kovalyonok and Ivanchenkov also served as the backup crew for the EP-1
mission in January 1978 to Salyut 6.
In the wake of Soyuz 25
's failure to dock with the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, Soyuz 26 was launched with the aim of docking at the other port, the aft port. The two-man crew of Romanenko and Grechko was launched 10 December 1977, the first launch window following the failed mission. Grechko's presence on the flight arose out of the Soyuz 25 failure. A decision to no longer fly all-rookie crews made him the replacement engineer for Soyuz 26. The launch was almost delayed by bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean
where the tracking ship Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was stationed. Once the ship's antennae were locked into position, the Soyuz launch was set to launch as the ship was needed to relay the docking procedure to mission control. The crew docked the next day, checked the seals and opened the hatches to the station, the first crew to enter the station. It was only upon the announcement of this successful docking that the Soviets revealed the station had a second port. The Soyuz 26 spacecraft remained docked until January 1978, when it landed the crew of EP-1
.
By 13 December, the station had been activated, and the cosmonauts gave a television tour of the station the next day.
of the EO-1 mission. The purpose was to inspect the forward docking port to assess whether there was damage which might have prevented Soyuz 25 from docking two months earlier. The spacewalk was the first one by the Soviets since cosmonauts from Soyuz 5
transferred to Soyuz 4
in 1969. The spacewalk was also significant as it was the first use of the Orlan space suits (which are still used today on the International Space Station
).
The issue of the whether the front docking port was broken, and if so was salvageable, was crucial to mission planners. If there was only a single usable port, only short-duration missions were possible at the station. The Soyuz 25 docking apparatus burned up during re-entry in October, so it could not be determined whether the fault lay there.
Grechko left the Salyut while Romanenko remained in the depressurized airlock
. He reported that there was no visible damage to the docking drouge, which meant that the docking mechanism on Soyuz 25 was faulty, not that of Salyut 6. Accordingly, the station's program was rescued. Additionally, he placed a materials exposure experiment on the exterior of the space station to be retrieved by a subsequent crew. The EVA lasted 1 hour and 28 minutes.
It was later revealed that a potentially dangerous incident occurred during the EVA. Once Grechko was back in the airlock, Romanenko asked to look outside, so Grechko moved aside and Romanenko pushed hard against the airlock. He did not have his safety tether attached and began to float away from the station and thrash about. Grechko grabbed his commander by his untethered safety line and pulled him back in. (In an interview afterward, he reported he asked Romanenko, "Yuri, where are you going?") Grechko felt the incident was overblown by author James Oberg
to sound more dangerous than it really was. Although Romanenko's safety tether was not attached, there was still the electricity/communications umbilical that would have held him to the station. Another complication occurred when the gauges indicated no air was refilling the airlock. However, it was soon realized the gauges had to be faulty, and they safely reentered the station.
Numerous experiments were carried out over the next few weeks. Since this was an attempt to set a new space-endurance record, much of the focus of the mission was on medical experimentation. But other research was also done. Earth observations were made 21 December of the Soviet Union and of forest fires in Africa
, and a new navigation system was tested on 25 December. By 3 January 1978, the crew requested more work as they were nearly finished setting up the station.
spacecraft to dock at the forward port, and depart in the parked Soyuz 26 spacecraft.
The mission, called EP-1
, was launched on 10 January with Vladimir Dzhanibekov
and Oleg Makarov. The spacecraft used to launch EP-1 was called Soyuz 27, which successfully docked at Salyut 6's forward port the next day, much to the relief of mission control. This was the first time three independently launched spacecraft had ever flown docked to each other. While the docking took place, Grechko and Romanenko moved into Soyuz 26 and closed the hatches in case of an accident.
The visiting crew brought supplies such as food, books and letters, equipment and a French
biological experiment, and Dzhanibekov, an electronics expert, inspected the station's electrical system.
On 13 January the crews performed for the first time the now-routine exchange of seat liners and centering weights in their respective Soyuz craft. The liners are custom molded for each space traveler, and are needed for launch and landing, and the weights are needed to ensure a proper center of mass for the returning craft so it does not undershoot or overshoot the landing target. While the main reason for the Soyuz swap was to free the aft port for the Progress, another reason was that extended exposure to space of the vehicle leads to degradation of its engine and propellant seals.
A now-standard experiment called "Resonance" was carried out, which tested the stresses of the multi-spacecraft structure by simply having the cosmonauts jump up and down. The visiting crew undocked Soyuz 26 on 16 January and returned to earth, thus freeing the aft port for the next spacecraft.
Four days later, on 20 January, an unmanned cargo ship called Progress 1
was launched. The non-reusable Progress spacecraft were designed to refuel the space station and bring supplies for the crew; Progress 1 was the first of its kind to be launched. The tanker docked at the aft port on 22 January. Some 1,000 kg of propellants were on board and 1,300 kg of supplies, including replacement parts, clothes, air and food. On 29 January, Progress replenished the air of the station. On 2 and 3 February, the refueling operation was completed. The refueling was another first. Never before had one spacecraft refuelled another in orbit. Finally, the craft was used to make orbit adjustments and was undocked and de-orbited on 8 February, burning up during re-entry over the Pacific Ocean
.
On 11 February, the crew received congratulations from Pyotr Klimuk
and Vitali Sevastyanov
- the crew of Soyuz 18
- for surpassing their Soviet space-endurance record of 63 days.
The crew took photographs with the MKF-6M multi-spectral camera, and created alloys with the Splav furnace. To attempt to make pure alloys, the attitude adjusters of the station were turned off, but Grechko reported samples were degraded by slight movements of the station despite the precautions. One discovery made as a result of these experiments was that the station naturally aligned itself with its service compartment pointing towards the earth and its transfer compartment away. This meant attitude control propellant could be preserved. A telescope was used extensively for observations of Earth
and the Orion nebula
towards the end of February, but the Soviets reported three crew were required for the optimum results.
was launched, carrying Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Gubarev
and Czechoslovakia
n cosmonaut Vladimír Remek
. Remek was the first non-Soviet, non-American person in space and flew as part of the Soviet Intercosmos
program which flew military pilots from Soviet bloc
countries, and other countries later. The Soyuz 28 crew docked with the station at the vacant aft port on 3 March, and spent the next week performing experiments.
It was during the visit by this crew that the EO-1 crew surpassed the Skylab 4
record of 84 days in space, which had stood since 1974.
The Soyuz 28 crew left in the craft they arrived in, and returned to Earth 10 March. No exchange of craft was contemplated as the EO-1 crew were due to return soon themselves.
During the visit, one of the Soyuz 28 crew informed Romanenko that Grechko's father had died. It was left to his judgment whether he should inform him during the mission or after they landed. He decided to wait for the completion of the mission.
By the end of the mission, Romanenko had developed an excruciating toothache, but there was little to stop the pain with on the station. All doctors at mission control could suggest was that he wash his mouth with warm water and keep warm. By the end of the mission—only six days after the Soyuz 28 crew's landing—a nerve had been exposed.
They undocked from the station in Soyuz 27 on 16 March and landed 265 km west of Tselinograd
. They had set a new space endurance record of 96 days.
They underwent immediate medical tests. It was announced that Grechko's heart had changed position during the flight and each had lost 4 kg on average during the mission. Leg volume decreased significant, though it was said the crew did not faithfully carry out the exercise regime while aboard the station. Both men tried to swim out of bed when they awoke for the first few days, and by the fourth day could walk through a park. It took two weeks for them to fully recover.
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....
long duration space expedition, the first to dock successfully with the space station Salyut 6
Salyut 6
Salyut 6 , DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth flown as part of the Salyut programme. Launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket, the station was the first of the 'second-generation' type of space station. Salyut 6 possessed several revolutionary advances over the earlier...
. The two person crew stayed were in space for a record setting 96 days, from December 1977 to March 1978. The expedition was the start of what would be the semi-permanent occupation of space by the Russians.
The expedition set several records and established several milestones, including the longest space flight to that time, the first docking of three spacecraft together, and the hosting of the first non-Soviet, non-American space-farer. Additionally, the mission saw the first spacewalk
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
by the Soviets since 1969. An important modification from previous 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...
stations which made many of these feats possible was an extra docking port on Salyut 6, which allowed for re-supply missions, visiting crews and, potentially, crew rotations and permanent occupation.
The crew consisted of Yuri Romanenko
Yuri Romanenko
Yury Viktorovich Romanenko is a former Soviet cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union . Over his career, Yury Romanenko spent a total of 430 days 20 hours 21 minutes 30 seconds in space and 18 hours in space walks. In 1987 he was a resident of the Mir space station, launching on Soyuz TM-2 and...
and Georgi Grechko
Georgi Grechko
Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on several space flights among which Soyuz 17, Soyuz 26, and Soyuz T-14.Grechko graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Mechanics with a doctorate in mathematics. He was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union...
. Their call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
for the mission was , after the Russian peninsula
Taymyr Peninsula
The Taymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of mainland Eurasia and Asia...
. The crew were launched aboard Soyuz 26
Soyuz 26
Soyuz 26 was Soviet manned mission, used to launch the crew of Salyut 6 EO-1, the first long duration crew on the space station Salyut 6.The Soyuz spacecraft was launched on December 10, 1977, and docked with the space station the next day...
, and are often referred to as the Soyuz 26 crew, even though they returned to earth aboard Soyuz 27
Soyuz 27
Soyuz 27 was a 1978 Soviet manned spacecraft which flew to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, during the mission EP-1. It was the third manned flight to the station, and the second successful docking...
, a few months after the Soyuz 26 spacecraft had been landed.
Crew
This was the first spaceflight of the mission's commander, Yuri RomanenkoYuri Romanenko
Yury Viktorovich Romanenko is a former Soviet cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union . Over his career, Yury Romanenko spent a total of 430 days 20 hours 21 minutes 30 seconds in space and 18 hours in space walks. In 1987 he was a resident of the Mir space station, launching on Soyuz TM-2 and...
, and the secord spaceflight of the flight engineer Georgi Grechko
Georgi Grechko
Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on several space flights among which Soyuz 17, Soyuz 26, and Soyuz T-14.Grechko graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Mechanics with a doctorate in mathematics. He was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union...
, who flew on the 29 day Soyuz 17
Soyuz 17
Soyuz 17 was the first of two long-duration missions to the Soviet Union's Salyut 4 space station in 1975. The flight set a Soviet mission-duration record of 29 days, surpassing the 23-day record set by the ill-fated Soyuz 11 crew aboard Salyut 1 in 1971....
mission to Salyut 4
Salyut 4
Salyut 4 was a Salyut space station launched on December 26, 1974 into an orbit with an apogee of 355 km, a perigee of 343 km and an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees. It was essentially a copy of the DOS 3, and unlike its ill-fated sibling it was a complete success...
. Soyuz 17, at the time, held the record for Soviet mission duration, and EO-1 would also break the mission duration record (surpassing USA's Skylab 4
Skylab 4
Skylab 4 was the fourth Skylab mission and placed the third and final crew on board the space station. The mission started November 16, 1973 with the launch of three astronauts on a Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes...
mission, which lasted 84 days).
| Position | Name | Spaceflight | Launch | Landing | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Yuri RomanenkoYuri Romanenko Yury Viktorovich Romanenko is a former Soviet cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union . Over his career, Yury Romanenko spent a total of 430 days 20 hours 21 minutes 30 seconds in space and 18 hours in space walks. In 1987 he was a resident of the Mir space station, launching on Soyuz TM-2 and... |
First | 10 December 1977 Soyuz 26 Soyuz 26 Soyuz 26 was Soviet manned mission, used to launch the crew of Salyut 6 EO-1, the first long duration crew on the space station Salyut 6.The Soyuz spacecraft was launched on December 10, 1977, and docked with the space station the next day... |
16 March 1978 Soyuz 27 Soyuz 27 Soyuz 27 was a 1978 Soviet manned spacecraft which flew to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, during the mission EP-1. It was the third manned flight to the station, and the second successful docking... |
96 days | Record spaceflight duration |
| Flight Engineer | Georgi Grechko Georgi Grechko Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on several space flights among which Soyuz 17, Soyuz 26, and Soyuz T-14.Grechko graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Mechanics with a doctorate in mathematics. He was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union... |
Second |
The backup crew for EO-1 was Vladimir Kovalyonok
Vladimir Kovalyonok
-Honours and awards:* Hero of the Soviet Union, twice * Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class * Order of Military Merit * Three Orders of Lenin...
, who would have been Commander, and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov
Aleksandr Ivanchenkov
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Ivanchenkov is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew as Flight Engineer on Soyuz 29 and Soyuz T-6, he spent 147 days, 12 hours and 37 minutes in space....
who would have been flight engineer. Kovalyonok and Ivanchenkov also served as the backup crew for the EP-1
Salyut 6 EP-1
Soyuz 6 EP-1 was a 1978 Soviet manned space flight to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, during the expedition EO-1. It was the third manned flight to the station, and the second successful docking. It was also the first crew to visit an occupied station and marked the first time that three...
mission in January 1978 to Salyut 6.
Launch of Soyuz 26
In the wake of Soyuz 25
Soyuz 25
Soyuz 25 was a 1977 Soviet manned space flight, the first to the new Salyut 6 space station, which had been launched 10 days earlier. However, the mission was aborted when cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin failed to engage the docking latches of the station despite five attempts...
's failure to dock with the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, Soyuz 26 was launched with the aim of docking at the other port, the aft port. The two-man crew of Romanenko and Grechko was launched 10 December 1977, the first launch window following the failed mission. Grechko's presence on the flight arose out of the Soyuz 25 failure. A decision to no longer fly all-rookie crews made him the replacement engineer for Soyuz 26. The launch was almost delayed by bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
where the tracking ship Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was stationed. Once the ship's antennae were locked into position, the Soyuz launch was set to launch as the ship was needed to relay the docking procedure to mission control. The crew docked the next day, checked the seals and opened the hatches to the station, the first crew to enter the station. It was only upon the announcement of this successful docking that the Soviets revealed the station had a second port. The Soyuz 26 spacecraft remained docked until January 1978, when it landed the crew of EP-1
Salyut 6 EP-1
Soyuz 6 EP-1 was a 1978 Soviet manned space flight to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, during the expedition EO-1. It was the third manned flight to the station, and the second successful docking. It was also the first crew to visit an occupied station and marked the first time that three...
.
By 13 December, the station had been activated, and the cosmonauts gave a television tour of the station the next day.
First Soviet spacewalk since 1969
On 20 December, the crew performed the only spacewalkExtra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
of the EO-1 mission. The purpose was to inspect the forward docking port to assess whether there was damage which might have prevented Soyuz 25 from docking two months earlier. The spacewalk was the first one by the Soviets since cosmonauts from Soyuz 5
Soyuz 5
Soyuz 5 was a Soyuz mission using the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union on January 15, 1969, which docked with Soyuz 4 in orbit...
transferred to Soyuz 4
Soyuz 4
Soyuz 4 was launched on January 14, 1969. On board the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft was cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov on his first flight. The aim of the mission was to dock with Soyuz 5, transfer two crew members from that spacecraft, and return to Earth...
in 1969. The spacewalk was also significant as it was the first use of the Orlan space suits (which are still used today on the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
).
The issue of the whether the front docking port was broken, and if so was salvageable, was crucial to mission planners. If there was only a single usable port, only short-duration missions were possible at the station. The Soyuz 25 docking apparatus burned up during re-entry in October, so it could not be determined whether the fault lay there.
Grechko left the Salyut while Romanenko remained in the depressurized airlock
Airlock
An airlock is a device which permits the passage of people and objects between a pressure vessel and its surroundings while minimizing the change of pressure in the vessel and loss of air from it...
. He reported that there was no visible damage to the docking drouge, which meant that the docking mechanism on Soyuz 25 was faulty, not that of Salyut 6. Accordingly, the station's program was rescued. Additionally, he placed a materials exposure experiment on the exterior of the space station to be retrieved by a subsequent crew. The EVA lasted 1 hour and 28 minutes.
It was later revealed that a potentially dangerous incident occurred during the EVA. Once Grechko was back in the airlock, Romanenko asked to look outside, so Grechko moved aside and Romanenko pushed hard against the airlock. He did not have his safety tether attached and began to float away from the station and thrash about. Grechko grabbed his commander by his untethered safety line and pulled him back in. (In an interview afterward, he reported he asked Romanenko, "Yuri, where are you going?") Grechko felt the incident was overblown by author James Oberg
James Oberg
James Edward Oberg is an American space journalist and historian, regarded as an expert on the Russian space program.-Biography:...
to sound more dangerous than it really was. Although Romanenko's safety tether was not attached, there was still the electricity/communications umbilical that would have held him to the station. Another complication occurred when the gauges indicated no air was refilling the airlock. However, it was soon realized the gauges had to be faulty, and they safely reentered the station.
Numerous experiments were carried out over the next few weeks. Since this was an attempt to set a new space-endurance record, much of the focus of the mission was on medical experimentation. But other research was also done. Earth observations were made 21 December of the Soviet Union and of forest fires in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and a new navigation system was tested on 25 December. By 3 January 1978, the crew requested more work as they were nearly finished setting up the station.
The first triple docking
The station required refueling by mid-January, and this was to be accomplished by a new unmanned supply tanker, Progress. But the tanker had to dock at the aft port where the propellant line connections were, and Soyuz 26 was docked there. Mission control was not yet willing to attempt to redock the Soyuz at the other port, a now-standard practice. Accordingly, a new crew was sent up on another Soyuz 7K-TSoyuz 7K-T
The second generation of the Soyuz spacecraft, the Soyuz Ferry or Soyuz 7K-T, comprised Soyuz 12 through Soyuz 40 . Although still using the Igla system, these had no solar panels, employing batteries...
spacecraft to dock at the forward port, and depart in the parked Soyuz 26 spacecraft.
The mission, called EP-1
Salyut 6 EP-1
Soyuz 6 EP-1 was a 1978 Soviet manned space flight to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, during the expedition EO-1. It was the third manned flight to the station, and the second successful docking. It was also the first crew to visit an occupied station and marked the first time that three...
, was launched on 10 January with Vladimir Dzhanibekov
Vladimir Dzhanibekov
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov is a former cosmonaut who made five flights.He was born in the remote area of Iskandar in Tashkent Province, Uzbekistan. He changed his surname from Krysin when he married to honor his wife's family, which was noble kin of the descendants of the medieval Kazakh...
and Oleg Makarov. The spacecraft used to launch EP-1 was called Soyuz 27, which successfully docked at Salyut 6's forward port the next day, much to the relief of mission control. This was the first time three independently launched spacecraft had ever flown docked to each other. While the docking took place, Grechko and Romanenko moved into Soyuz 26 and closed the hatches in case of an accident.
The visiting crew brought supplies such as food, books and letters, equipment and a French
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...
biological experiment, and Dzhanibekov, an electronics expert, inspected the station's electrical system.
On 13 January the crews performed for the first time the now-routine exchange of seat liners and centering weights in their respective Soyuz craft. The liners are custom molded for each space traveler, and are needed for launch and landing, and the weights are needed to ensure a proper center of mass for the returning craft so it does not undershoot or overshoot the landing target. While the main reason for the Soyuz swap was to free the aft port for the Progress, another reason was that extended exposure to space of the vehicle leads to degradation of its engine and propellant seals.
A now-standard experiment called "Resonance" was carried out, which tested the stresses of the multi-spacecraft structure by simply having the cosmonauts jump up and down. The visiting crew undocked Soyuz 26 on 16 January and returned to earth, thus freeing the aft port for the next spacecraft.
Progress 1
Progress 1
Progress 1 was a Soviet unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1978 to resupply the Salyut 6 space station. It was the maiden flight of the Progress spacecraft, and used the Progress 7K-TG configuration. It carried supplies for the EO-1 crew aboard Salyut 6, which consisted of...
was launched. The non-reusable Progress spacecraft were designed to refuel the space station and bring supplies for the crew; Progress 1 was the first of its kind to be launched. The tanker docked at the aft port on 22 January. Some 1,000 kg of propellants were on board and 1,300 kg of supplies, including replacement parts, clothes, air and food. On 29 January, Progress replenished the air of the station. On 2 and 3 February, the refueling operation was completed. The refueling was another first. Never before had one spacecraft refuelled another in orbit. Finally, the craft was used to make orbit adjustments and was undocked and de-orbited on 8 February, burning up during re-entry over the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
On 11 February, the crew received congratulations from Pyotr Klimuk
Pyotr Klimuk
Pyotr Ilyich Klimuk Klimuk attended the Leninski Komsomol Chernigov High Aviation School and entered the Soviet Air Force in 1964. The following year, he was selected to join the space programme.His first flight was a long test flight on Soyuz 13 in 1973...
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...
- the crew of Soyuz 18
Soyuz 18
Soyuz 18 was a 1975 Soviet manned mission to Salyut 4, the second and final crew to man the space station. Pyotr Klimuk and Vitali Sevastyanov set a new Soviet space endurance record of 63 days and the mark for most people in space simultaneously was tied during the mission.-Crew:-Backup...
- for surpassing their Soviet space-endurance record of 63 days.
The crew took photographs with the MKF-6M multi-spectral camera, and created alloys with the Splav furnace. To attempt to make pure alloys, the attitude adjusters of the station were turned off, but Grechko reported samples were degraded by slight movements of the station despite the precautions. One discovery made as a result of these experiments was that the station naturally aligned itself with its service compartment pointing towards the earth and its transfer compartment away. This meant attitude control propellant could be preserved. A telescope was used extensively for observations of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and the Orion nebula
Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light...
towards the end of February, but the Soviets reported three crew were required for the optimum results.
Second visiting crew, first international cosmonaut, new space record
On 2 March, Soyuz 28Soyuz 28
-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.65°*Period: 88.95 minutes-Mission highlights:...
was launched, carrying Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Gubarev
Aleksei Gubarev
Aleksei Aleksandrovich Gubarev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on two space flights: Soyuz 17 and Soyuz 28.Gubarev graduated from the Soviet Naval Aviation School in 1952 and went on to serve with the Soviet Air Force...
and 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...
n cosmonaut 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...
. Remek was the first non-Soviet, non-American person in space and flew as part of the Soviet Intercosmos
Intercosmos
Interkosmos was a space program of the Soviet Union designed to include members of military forces of allied Warsaw Pact countries in manned and unmanned missions...
program which flew military pilots from Soviet bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
countries, and other countries later. The Soyuz 28 crew docked with the station at the vacant aft port on 3 March, and spent the next week performing experiments.
It was during the visit by this crew that the EO-1 crew surpassed the Skylab 4
Skylab 4
Skylab 4 was the fourth Skylab mission and placed the third and final crew on board the space station. The mission started November 16, 1973 with the launch of three astronauts on a Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes...
record of 84 days in space, which had stood since 1974.
The Soyuz 28 crew left in the craft they arrived in, and returned to Earth 10 March. No exchange of craft was contemplated as the EO-1 crew were due to return soon themselves.
During the visit, one of the Soyuz 28 crew informed Romanenko that Grechko's father had died. It was left to his judgment whether he should inform him during the mission or after they landed. He decided to wait for the completion of the mission.
The mission ends
On 9 March, the crew's exercise routine was increased from 1–3 hours a day to 10–12 hours a day in preparation for their return to earth. Deactivation of the station commenced on 13 March, and the Soyuz 27 engines were tested on 15 March.By the end of the mission, Romanenko had developed an excruciating toothache, but there was little to stop the pain with on the station. All doctors at mission control could suggest was that he wash his mouth with warm water and keep warm. By the end of the mission—only six days after the Soyuz 28 crew's landing—a nerve had been exposed.
They undocked from the station in Soyuz 27 on 16 March and landed 265 km west of Tselinograd
Astana
Astana , formerly known as Akmola , Tselinograd and Akmolinsk , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010...
. They had set a new space endurance record of 96 days.
They underwent immediate medical tests. It was announced that Grechko's heart had changed position during the flight and each had lost 4 kg on average during the mission. Leg volume decreased significant, though it was said the crew did not faithfully carry out the exercise regime while aboard the station. Both men tried to swim out of bed when they awoke for the first few days, and by the fourth day could walk through a park. It took two weeks for them to fully recover.