Soyuz 4
Crewed flight of the Soyuz programme / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about a 1969 spaceflight. For the mission identified by NASA as ISS Soyuz 4, see Soyuz TM-34.
Soyuz 4 (Russian: Союз 4, Union 4) was launched on 14 January 1969, carrying 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. The previous Soyuz flight (Soyuz 3) was also a docking attempt but failed for various reasons.
Quick Facts Mission type, Operator ...
Mission type | Test flight |
---|---|
Operator | Soviet space program |
COSPAR ID | 1969-004A |
SATCAT no. | 03654 |
Mission duration | 2 days 23 hours 20 minutes 47 seconds |
Orbits completed | 54 [1] |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Soyuz 7K-OK No.12[2] |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz 7K-OK (active) |
Manufacturer | Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1) |
Launch mass | 6625 kg |
Landing mass | 2800 kg |
Dimensions | 7.13 m long 2.72 m wide |
Crew | |
Crew size | 1 up 3 down |
Members | Vladimir Shatalov |
Landing | Vladimir Shatalov Aleksei Yeliseyev Yevgeny Khrunov |
Callsign | Амур (Amur – "Amur River") |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 14 January 1969, 07:30:00 GMT |
Rocket | Soyuz |
Launch site | Baikonur, Site 31/6[3] |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 17 January 1969, 06:50:47 GMT |
Landing site | 100 km at the southwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit[4] |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 205.0 km |
Apogee altitude | 223.0 km |
Inclination | 51.73° |
Period | 88.72 minutes |
Docking with Soyuz 5 | |
Docking date | 16 January 1969, 08:20 GMT |
Undocking date | 16 January 1969, 12:55 GMT |
Time docked | 4 hours 35 minutes |
Close
The radio call sign of the crew was Amur, while Soyuz 5 was Baikal. This referred to the trans-Siberian railway project called the Baikal-Amur Mainline, which was in development at the time.