Soyuz 15 (Russian: Союз 15, Union 15) was an August, 1974, crewed space flight which was to have been the second mission to the Soviet Union's Salyut 3 space station with presumably military objectives.[4]
Mission type | Docking with Salyut 3 |
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Operator | Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1) |
COSPAR ID | 1974-067A ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 07421 |
Mission duration | 2 days 12 minutes 11 seconds |
Orbits completed | 32 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Soyuz 7K-T No.4 |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz 7K-T/A9 |
Manufacturer | Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1) |
Launch mass | 6570 kg [1] |
Landing mass | 1200 kg |
Crew | |
Crew size | 2 |
Members | Gennady Sarafanov Lev Dyomin |
Callsign | Дунай (Dunay - "Danube") |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 26 August 1974, 19:58:05 UTC |
Rocket | Soyuz |
Launch site | Baikonur, Site 1/5[2] |
Contractor | Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1) |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 28 August 1974, 20:10:16 UTC |
Landing site | 48 km at the southwest of Tselinograd |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit[3] |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 254.0 km |
Apogee altitude | 275.0 km |
Inclination | 51.60° |
Period | 89.60 minutes |
![]() Salyut program insignia Soyuz programme |
Launched 26 August 1974, the Soyuz spacecraft arrived at the station, but cosmonauts Gennady Sarafanov, wearing an Omega Speedmaster Mark III and Lev Dyomin were unable to dock because the electronics in the Igla docking system malfunctioned. Without sufficient fuel for prolonged attempts at manual docking, the mission had to be abandoned. The cosmonauts powered down all nonessential systems in the Soyuz and waited until the next day for reentry.[5] The crew landed 28 August 1974. Analysis of the launch window was cited by observers for concluding a flight of 19 to 29 days had been planned.[5]
In the event of the failure, official TASS statements merely claimed that the mission was intended to practice docking maneuvers with the Salyut 3 station.[4] They also said that a new automatic docking system was tested which would be used on future Progress transport craft.[5]
The failed mission exposed a number of serious design flaws in the Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft, namely its lack of reserve propellant and electrical power for repeated docking attempts. In addition, the Igla docking system was found to be in major need of improvement. Since it was impossible to carry out these changes before Salyut 3 finished its operating lifespan, they had to wait for future space stations. The backup spacecraft for the Soyuz 15 mission was placed in storage and later flown as Soyuz 20 despite being past its intended shelf life.
Position | Cosmonaut | |
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Commander | Gennady Sarafanov Only spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | Lev Dyomin Only spaceflight |
Position | Cosmonaut | |
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Commander | Boris Volynov | |
Flight Engineer | Vitaly Zholobov |
Position | Cosmonaut | |
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Commander | Vyacheslav Zudov | |
Flight Engineer | Valery Rozhdestvensky |
Soyuz programme | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Main topics |
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Past missions (by spacecraft type) |
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Current missions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Future missions |
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Uncrewed missions are designated as Kosmos instead of Soyuz; exceptions are noted "(uncrewed)". The † sign designates failed missions. Italics designates cancelled missions. |
← 1973 · Orbital launches in 1974 · 1975 → | |
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Kosmos 628 | Skynet 2A | Kosmos 629 | Kosmos 630 | Kosmos 631 | Sphinx · VDS | Kosmos 632 | OPS 6889 | Tansei 2 | San Marco 4 | Kosmos 633 | Meteor-M No.30 | Kosmos 634 | Miranda | Kosmos 635 · Nauka-17KS No.1L | OPS 8579 | Kosmos 636 | Kosmos 637 | Kosmos 638 | Kosmos 639 | OPS 6245 · OPS 4547 · OPS 3935 | Kosmos 640 | Unnamed | Westar 1 | Molniya-1-27 | Kosmos 641 · Kosmos 642 · Kosmos 643 · Kosmos 644 · Kosmos 645 · Kosmos 646 · Kosmos 647 · Kosmos 648 | Meteor-M No.22 | Molniya-2-9 | Kosmos 649 | Kosmos 650 | Kosmos 651 | Kosmos 652 | Kosmos 653 | Kosmos 654 | SMS-1 | Interkosmos 11 | Kosmos 655 | Yantar-2K No.1 | Kosmos 656 | Luna 22 | Kosmos 657 | ATS-6 | Explorer 52 | Kosmos 658 | OPS 1776 | Kosmos 659 | Kosmos 660 | Kosmos 661 | Salyut 3 | Kosmos 662 | Kosmos 663 | Kosmos 664 | Kosmos 665 | Soyuz 14 | Meteor-Priroda No.1 | DS-P1-Yu No.68 | Kosmos 666 | Unnamed | OPS 7518 | Aeros 2 | Molniya-2-10 | Kosmos 667 | Kosmos 668 | Kosmos 669 · Nauka-8KS No.3 | Molniya-1 No.38 | Kosmos 670 | Kosmos 671 | OPS 6983 | Kosmos 672 | OPS 3004 | Kosmos 673 | Soyuz 15 | Kosmos 674 | Kosmos 675 | Unnamed | ANS | Kosmos 676 | Kosmos 677 · Kosmos 678 · Kosmos 679 · Kosmos 680 · Kosmos 681 · Kosmos 682 · Kosmos 683 · Kosmos 684 | Kosmos 685 | Kosmos 686 | Westar 2 | Kosmos 687 | Ariel 5 | Kosmos 688 | Kosmos 689 | Kosmos 690 | Molniya-1 No.26 | Kosmos 691 | Meteor-M No.33 | Luna 23 | OPS 7122 · OPS 6239 · OPS 8452 | Interkosmos 12 | Kosmos 692 | Kosmos 693 | Fanhui Shi Weixing 1 | NOAA-4 · OSCAR-7 · INTASAT | Kosmos 694 | Kosmos 695 | Molniya-3 No.11 | Intelsat IV F-8 | Skynet 2B | Kosmos 696 | Soyuz 16 | Helios 1 | Kosmos 697 | Meteor-M No.32 | Kosmos 698 | Symphonie 1 | Molniya-2-11 | Kosmos 699 | Salyut 4 | Kosmos 700 | Kosmos 701 | |
Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets). |