Backup crew

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6800 kg (14,991.4 lb)
• Perigee: 197.5 km (122.7 mi)
• Apogee: 281.9 km (175.2 mi)
• Inclination: 51.62°
• Period: 89.0 minutes

Mission highlights

Soyuz 36 was launched 26 May 1980 with Valery Kubasov and Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas

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...

, headed to the Salyut 6 space station where Leonid Popov

Leonid Popov

Leonid Ivanovich Popov is a former Soviet cosmonaut.Popov was born in Oleksandriia, Kirovohrad Oblast, Ukrainian SSR. He was selected as a cosmonaut on April 27, 1970, and flew as Commander on Soyuz 35, Soyuz 40 and Soyuz T-7, logging 200 days, 14 hours, and 45 minutes in space before his...

 and Valery Ryumin

Valery Ryumin

Valery Victorovich Ryumin, born August 16, 1939 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur) is a former Soviet cosmonaut.In 1958, he was graduated from the Kaliningrad Mechanical Engineering Technical College with the specialty "Cold Working of Metal." In 1966, he was graduated from the Department of Electronics and...

, launched aboard Soyuz 35

Soyuz 35

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.65°*Period: 88.81 minutes-Crew launch, station activation:...

, were resident. The flight was originally scheduled for 5 June 1979, but was cancelled due to the Soyuz 33

Soyuz 33

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.63°*Period: 88.99 minutes-Mission highlights:...

 failure. They successfully docked at the aft port the day after launching. The flight was the fifth 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...

 flight whereby guest cosmonauts from Soviet allied nations would visit the space station, typically for about a week. The flight was only the second time a Soviet mission had a civilian commander.

Upon boarding, the visiting crew carried out Hungarian experiments, so many that the visiting crew sometimes only got three hours of sleep. One experiment was Pille, which measured radiation doses received by the crew with miniature thermoluminescent devices attached to their clothing and to the walls of the station. Another three experiments studied the formation of interferon

Interferon

Interferons are proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of pathogens—such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites—or tumor cells. They allow communication between cells to trigger the protective defenses of the immune system that eradicate pathogens or tumors.IFNs belong to...

 in human cells under weightless conditions. Earth resources work using the on-board cameras were carried out, in coordination with ground crews, airplanes and helicopters.

Farkas was said by the Hungarian press to have adjusted far quicker than Kubasov to the weightless conditions.

The Soyuz craft was used to boost the station's orbit on 29 May, then Kubasov and Farkas swapped Soyuz craft with the long-duration crew, exchanging seat liners, pressure suits and personal items, before departing the station in Soyuz 35 on 3 June and landed 140 km southeast of Dzhezkazgan

Dzhezkazgan

Jezkazgan or Zhezkazgan , formerly known as Dzhezkazgan , is a city in Karagandy Province, Kazakhstan, on a reservoir of the Kara-Kengir River. The city population is of 90,000...

. The Soyuz 36 spacecraft was later used to return the crew of Soyuz 37

Soyuz 37

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.61°*Period: 89.12 minutes-Mission highlights:...

to earth.