waterline provided air. They ate from their supply of emergency food and donned emergency water survival suits. The next day a helicopter towed the capsule to shore with the cosmonauts still inside. They were unharmed by their ordeal.[1] |}
| Soyuz 24 | February 7-25, 1977 | |
| Viktor Gorbatko, Yuri Glazkov Crew code name—Terek The Tereks spent only 17 days docked to Salyut 5, which had nearly depleted its propellant supply. | ||
1.8.4.5 Soyuz Ferry Missions to Salyut 6
For information on Salyut operations during these Soyuz missions, see section 2.7.3.
| Soyuz 25 | October 9-11, 1977 | |
| Vladimir Kovalyonok, Valeri Ryumin Crew code name—Foton Docked with Salyut 6 on October 10, 1977, but its crew was unable to complete hard dock. It was able to insert its probe into the drogue assembly, but could not secure the latches in the docking ring to create an airtight seal. After four docking attempts, Soyuz 25 backed away from the station. Three orbits later, it again failed to hard dock. Mission rules specified immediate preparations for return to Earth because of the limited lifetime of its batteries. Insufficient propellant remained for docking at the Salyut 6 aft port. Suspicion fell on the Soyuz 25 probe docking unit as the cause of the failure. Because the orbital module was discarded at reentry, it was impossible to inspect the unit to confirm that it caused the trouble. | ||
| Soyuz 26 | December 10, 1977-January 16, 1978 | |
| Launch crew—Yuri Romanenko, Georgi Grechko Crew code name—Tamyr Landing crew—Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Oleg Makarov Crew code name—Pamir Docked at the aft port. Its crew inspected the front port drogue unit and found no abnormalities, increasing suspicions that the Soyuz 25 docking apparatus caused its docking failure. The Soyuz 26 crew remained aboard Salyut 6 for 96 days, surpassing the spaceflight endurance record set by the third manned Skylab mission. Their spacecraft returned to Earth before that, replaced by Soyuz 27 after about 60 days docked to Salyut 6. | ||
- ↑ Johnson, 1980, p. 329.
