Soyuz 7K-T No.39, (also named
Soyuz 18a or
Soyuz 18-1) was an unsuccessful launch of a manned Soyuz spacecraft by the
Soviet Union on April 5, 1975. The mission was expected to dock with the orbiting
Salyut 4 space station, but due to a failure of the Soyuz launch vehicle the crew failed to achieve orbit.
The accident was the result of a failure of a rocket staging event; the core booster of theSoyuz rocket did not separate from its upper stage. Since the accident took place after theescape tower had jettisoned, theSoyuz 7K-T spacecraft needed to use its own propulsion module engines to escape the failing rocket.
The escape exerted excessiveg forces on the crew, consisting of commander Vasili Lazarev, an Air Force major, and flight engineer Oleg Makarov, a civilian. Both cosmonauts were injured, with Lazarev suffering injuries serious enough to end his career. The descent module landed nearAleysk, in theAltai Mountains; the crew initially feared they landed in thePeople's Republic of China, leading them to burn their paperwork in case they were captured by the Chinese, whom the Soviet Union wereat odds with at the time.
The accident was disclosed by the normally secretive Soviets, as it occurred during preparations for their jointApollo–Soyuz Test Project with theUnited States three months later. This would prove to be the last manned Soyuz mission launched with the original Soyuz rocket; future missions would be launched by the updatedSoyuz-U rocket.
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov (30 May 1934 – 11 October 2019) was a Soviet and Russian
cosmonaut,
Air Forcemajor general, writer, and artist.
On March 18, 1965, he became the first human to conductextravehicular activity (EVA), exiting the capsule during theVoskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk. During the spacewalk, he encountered severe difficulties due to the design of his spacesuit.
Leonov had been tapped to be a commander for theSoviet crewed lunar programs, and would've commanded the first crewedSoyuz 7K-L1Zond mission if it were ever cleared to proceed. He was selected as commander ofSoyuz 11, the second planned (and first successful) mission to theSalyut 1 space station, but the entire crew was swapped out when crewmateValeri Kubasov was suspected of contractingtuberculosis. This saved him from dying when Soyuz 11 de-pressurized during re-entry, killing the cosmonauts on-board.
Leonov was then selected as commander of Soyuz 19, the Soviet side of theApollo–Soyuz Test Project, again with Kubasov. They would be joined byApollo astronautsTom Stafford,Vance Brand, andDeke Slayton, on the mission in July 1975.
Leonov would serve as "Chief Cosmonaut" from 1976 through 1982, and retired from theSoviet space program in 1991. He would spend time in the private sector in post-SovietRussia, most notably atAlfa-Bank, until he retired for good in 2001. He has written several books about his space experience, including a joint biography with American astronautDavid Scott in 2006.
