| Mission type | Docking withSalyut 4 |
|---|---|
| Operator | Soviet space program |
| COSPAR ID | 1975-044A |
| SATCATno. | 07818 |
| Mission duration | 62 days 23 hours 20 minutes 8 seconds |
| Orbits completed | 993 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz 7K-T No.7 |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz 7K-T |
| Manufacturer | NPO Energia |
| Launch mass | 6570 kg[1] |
| Landing mass | 1200 kg |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 2 |
| Members | Pyotr Klimuk Vitaly Sevastyanov |
| Callsign | Кавказ (Kavkaz - "Caucasus") |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 24 May 1975, 14:58:10UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz-U |
| Launch site | Baikonur,Site 1/5[2] |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 26 July 1975, 14:18:18 UTC |
| Landing site | 56 km at the east ofArkalyk,Kazakhstan 51°N68°E / 51°N 68°E /51; 68 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit[3] |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 193.0 km |
| Apogee altitude | 247.0 km |
| Inclination | 51.6° |
| Period | 88.6 minutes |
| Docking withSalyut 4 | |
| Docking date | 26 May 1975 |
| Undocking date | 26 July 1975 |
| Time docked | 61 days |
 Vimpel Diamond patch | |
Soyuz 18 (Russian:Союз 18,Union 18) was a 1975Soviet crewed mission toSalyut 4, the second and final crew to man thespace station.Pyotr Klimuk andVitaly Sevastyanov set a new Soviet space endurance record of 63 days and the mark for most people in space simultaneously (seven) was tied during the mission.
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Pyotr Klimuk Second spaceflight | |
| Flight engineer | Vitaly Sevastyanov Second and last spaceflight | |
| Position | Cosmonaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Vladimir Kovalyonok | |
| Flight engineer | Yuri Ponomaryov | |
The Soyuz 18 crew were the back-up crew for the failedSoyuz 18a mission, carried out that mission's objectives, and continued the work of the previousSoyuz 17 crew.[4][5] Klimuk and Sevastyanov were launched into space on 24 May 1975 and docked with Salyut 4 two days later. The crew quickly set to performing experiments and fixing or replacing equipment. Aspectrometer was repaired, agas analyzer was replaced, and a pumping condenser in the water regeneration system was switched with a hand pump.[4]
On 29 and 30 May 1975, biological and medical experiments were performed and the Oasis garden was started. Studies of thestars,planets,Earth and itsatmosphere were started on 2 and 3 June 1975. Some 2,000 photographs of the Earth and 600 of theSun were reported taken.[4]
More medical experiments were performed in June 1975, and attempts were made to growplants, includingonions. Experiments were carried out oninsects, and experiments on varying the work schedule were carried out.[4] Extensive medical experiments were carried out on 23 June 1975, as the crew surpassed the Soviet space endurance record of 29 days, set bySoyuz 17, the Salyut's previous crew.[4] The all-time record was held then by theSkylab 4 crew at 84 days.
On 3 July 1975, it was announced that the mission would last beyond the upcomingApollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). To avoid any conflict of resources, the Soyuz 18 crew was controlled from the old Crimean Control Center, while the ASTPSoyuz 19 mission would be controlled from the Kaliningrad Control Center. The Crimean center had not been used since theSoyuz 12 flight.[4] This was the first time the Soviets had to control two unrelated space missions.[5]
The ASTP crews were launched 15 and 16 July 1975, and the Soyuz 18 crew communicated with the Soyuz 19 crew on two brief occasions.[4] The total of seven people in space tied the record set by theSoyuz 6,Soyuz 7 andSoyuz 8 flights of 1969. Once the American ASTP crew landed 24 July 1975, the Soviets had a near six-year monopoly on crewed space flights until the launch of the firstSpace Shuttle,STS-1, on 12 April 1981.
The Salyut living conditions were starting to degrade by July 1975, with theenvironmental control system failing, windows fogged over and green mold growing on the station walls. The crew donned exercise suits and increased their exercise period to over two hours a day, and on 18 July 1975 began to prepare the station for uncrewed flight. The Soyuz craft was activated on 24 July 1975 and the crew returned to Earth two days later, on 26 July 1975. It landed at 56 km at the East ofArkalyk,Kazakhstan.[4] The cosmonauts exited the capsule under their own power, but it was two days before Klimuk could take a 10-minute walk, and a week before he made a full recovery.[4]
Soyuz-18 Rock in Antarctica is named after the mission.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.| Main topics |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Uncrewed missions are designated asKosmos instead ofSoyuz; exceptions are noted "(uncrewed)". The † sign designates failed missions.Italics designates cancelled missions. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
