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Soyuz T-1

Mission type	Test flight
COSPAR ID	1979-103A
SATCAT no.	11640
Mission duration	3 months and 9 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-T
Manufacturer	NPO Energia
Launch mass	6,450 kilograms (14,220 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	16 December 1979, 12:30 (1979-12-16UTC12:30Z) UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date	25 March 1980, 21:47 (1980-03-25UTC21:48Z) UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Docking with Salyut 6

Soyuz T-1 (Russian: Союз Т-1, also called Soyuz T) was a 1979-80 uncrewed Soviet space flight, a test flight of a new Soyuz craft which docked with the orbiting Salyut 6 space station.

Mission parameters

• Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-ST
• Mass: 6450 kg
• Crew: None
• Launched: 16 December 1979
• Landed: 25 March 1980

Mission highlights

Four months had passed since the last Salyut 6 crew (Soyuz 32) had landed, and since the same amount of time had passed between the previous space station's long-duration crews, a December 1979 launch was considered a real possibility by observers. However, though the secretive Soviets did launch a craft that month, it was not what observers expected.

Soyuz T-1 was launched 16 December, and was the fourth uncrewed test flight of a modified version of the Soyuz spacecraft, the first to be given a "Soyuz" designation. Two days later, it approached the space station, but overshot it. A second dock attempt was made 19 December, and Soyuz T-1 successfully docked at the forward port.

The Soyuz lifted the orbit of the space station on 25 December and remained docked to it for 95 days, during which time the station remained unoccupied. It undocked on 23 March 1980, performed several days of tests, then was de-orbited 25 March. The landing date was outside a normal landing window as the craft was being flight-rated over the standard 2+1⁄2 months and the Soviets were planning to launch Soyuz 35 during the next launch window in April.

The mission was unusual for several reasons. Unlike other previous long uncrewed missions, Soyuz T-1 was not powered down while docked to the space station. And, its recovery saw a change from the norm as well. Previous Soyuz missions saw the entire spacecraft de-orbit. But with the Soyuz T craft, the orbital module was separated prior to retro-fire, to save propellant. This allowed for more maneuvers prior to de-orbit.

References

1. ^ Clark, Phillip (1988). The Soviet Manned Space Program. New York: Orion Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-517-56954-X.
2. ^ Newkirk, Dennis (1990). Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87201-848-2.

Further reading

• Mir Hardware Heritage – NASA report (PDF format)
• Mir Hardware Heritage (wikisource)

v t e Soyuz programme
List of Soyuz missions List of Soviet human spaceflight missions List of Russian human spaceflight missions
Main topics	Soyuz (rocket family) Soyuz (spacecraft) Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 Site 31/6 Soyuz abort modes Cosmonaut ranks and positions
Past missions (by spacecraft type)	Soyuz 7K-OK (1966–1970) Kosmos 133† Soyuz 7K-OK No.1† (uncrewed) Kosmos 140 Soyuz 1† Kosmos 186 188 212 213 238 Soyuz 2 (uncrewed) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Soyuz 7K-L1 (1967–1970) (Zond lunar programme) Kosmos 146 154† Zond 1967A† 1967B† Zond 4 1968A† 1968B† 5 6 1969A† Zond-M 1† M 2† Zond 7 8 9 10 Soyuz 7K-L1E (1969–1970) Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1† Kosmos 382 Soyuz 7K-LOK (1971–1972) Soyuz 7K-LOK No.1† No.2† Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971) Soyuz 10† 11† Soyuz 7K-T (1972–1981) Kosmos 496 573 Soyuz 12 Kosmos 613 Soyuz 13 Kosmos 656 Soyuz 14 15† 17 18a† 18 20 (uncrewed) 21 23† 24 25† 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 (uncrewed landing) 33† 34 (uncrewed launch) 35 36 37 38 39 40 Soyuz 7K-TM (1974–1976) Kosmos 638 672 Soyuz 16 19 (Apollo–Soyuz) 22 Soyuz 7K-S (1974–1976) Kosmos 670 772† 869† Soyuz-T (1978–1986) Kosmos 1001† 1074 Soyuz T-1 (uncrewed) T-2 T-3 T-4 T-5 T-6 T-7 T-8† T-9 T-10a† T-10 T-11 T-12 T-13 T-14 T-15 Soyuz-TM (1986–2002) Soyuz TM-1 (uncrewed) TM-2 TM-3 TM-4 TM-5 TM-6 TM-7 TM-8 TM-9 TM-10 TM-11 TM-12 TM-13 TM-14 TM-15 TM-16 TM-17 TM-18 TM-19 TM-20 TM-21 TM-22 TM-23 TM-24 TM-25 TM-26 TM-27 TM-28 TM-29 TM-30 TM-31 TM-32 TM-33 TM-34 Soyuz-TMA (2002–2012) Soyuz TMA-1 TMA-2 TMA-3 TMA-4 TMA-5 TMA-6 TMA-7 TMA-8 TMA-9 TMA-10 TMA-11 TMA-12 TMA-13 TMA-14 TMA-15 TMA-16 TMA-17 TMA-18 TMA-19 TMA-20 TMA-21 TMA-22 Soyuz-TMA-M (2010–2016) Soyuz TMA-01M TMA-02M TMA-03M TMA-04M TMA-05M TMA-06M TMA-07M TMA-08M TMA-09M TMA-10M TMA-11M TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M TMA-16M TMA-17M TMA-18M TMA-19M TMA-20M Soyuz MS (2016–present) Soyuz MS-01 MS-02 MS-03 MS-04 MS-05 MS-06 MS-07 MS-08 MS-09 MS-10† MS-11 MS-12 MS-13 MS-14 (uncrewed) MS-15 MS-16 MS-17 MS-18 MS-19 MS-20 MS-21 MS-22 (uncrewed landing) MS-23 (uncrewed launch) MS-24 MS-25
Current missions	MS-26
Future missions	2025 MS-27 MS-28 2026 MS-29
Uncrewed missions are designated as Kosmos instead of Soyuz; exceptions are noted "(uncrewed)". The † sign designates failed missions. Italics designates cancelled missions.

• Soyuz uncrewed test flights
• 1979 in the Soviet Union
• Spacecraft launched in 1979
• Spacecraft which reentered in 1980
• Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets