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Soyuz-T 4 • Salyut 6 | May 22-26, 1981 |
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Soyuz-T 4 orbital module • Salyut 6 | May 26-31, 1981 | |
| Soyuz-T 4 leaves behind orbital module. This procedure was first followed on Soyuz-T 3, though then the module was left attached to the station for only a few hours. | |||
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Salyut 6 | May 31-June 19, 1981 |
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Cosmos 1267 FGB • Salyut 6 | June 19, 1981-July 29, 1982 | |
| Cosmos 1267 docks. Cosmos 1267 was the FGB component of a TKS vehicle launched on April 25, 1981. Its Merkur capsule had separated and landed in the Soviet Union on May 26.
Salyut 6 held in reserve. Salyut 6’s replacement, Salyut 7, was launched on April 19, 1982. Salyut 6 remained in orbit, still docked to Cosmos 1267, at an average altitude of 385 km. The aged laboratory remained in orbit until after the conclusion of the joint Franco-Soviet mission to Salyut 7 (June 24-July 2), then was deorbited using the engines on Cosmos 1267. It may have been kept in orbit as a backup for the Franco-Soviet mission in the event Salyut 7 failed or had its launch delayed.[1] Sending Chretien to Salyut 7 seems to have represented a change in plans—in 1979, a French publication had quoted Vladimir Shatalov, head of cosmonaut training, as saying that a French cosmonaut would visit Salyut 6. The same publication stated in 1981 that Cosmos 1267 had been scheduled to be undocked from Salyut 6 to make ready for the joint Franco-Soviet crew, but that it was more likely that they would dock with Salyut 7.[2][3] | |||
- ↑ Nicholas Johnson, The Soviet Year in Space 1982, Teledyne Brown Engineering, 1983, p. 27.
- ↑ Pierre Langereux, “New Cosmonauts are Preparing to Man Salyut 6,” Air et Cosmos, No. 786, November 10, 1979, p. 42. Translated in JPRS L/8858, USSR Report, Space, January 9, 1980, pp. 1-3.
- ↑ Pierre Langereux, “Cosmos 1267,” Air et Cosmos, October 1981, p. 39. Translated in JPRS L/10523, USSR Report, Space, May 18, 1982, p. 3.
