Soyuz T-12 (also known as Salyut 7 EP-4) was the seventh crewed spaceflight to the Soviet space station Salyut 7. The name "Soyuz T-12" is also the name of the spacecraft used to launch and land the mission's three-person crew. The mission occurred in July 1984, during the long-duration expedition Salyut 7 EO-3. During the mission, crew member Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to ever perform a spacewalk, and the potential Buran space shuttle pilot, Igor Volk, was given spaceflight experience. Unlike many Soyuz visiting missions, the Soyuz lifeboats were not swapped, and the crew returned to Earth in the same spacecraft in which they launched.
COSPAR ID | 1984-073A ![]() |
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SATCAT no. | 15119 |
Mission duration | 11 days, 19 hours, 14 minutes, 36 seconds[1] |
Orbits completed | 186 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz-T |
Manufacturer | NPO Energia |
Launch mass | 7,020 kilograms (15,480 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 3 |
Members | Vladimir Dzhanibekov Svetlana Savitskaya Igor Volk |
Callsign | Pamir (Pamir Mountains) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | July 17, 1984, 17:40:54 (1984-07-17UTC17:40:54Z) UTC |
Rocket | Soyuz-U2 |
Launch site | Baikonur 31/6 |
End of mission | |
Landing date | July 29, 1984, 12:55:30 (1984-07-29UTC12:55:31Z) UTC |
Landing site | 140 kilometres (87 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Perigee altitude | 192 kilometres (119 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 218 kilometres (135 mi) |
Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
Period | 88.6 minutes |
Docking with Salyut 7 | |
![]() Soyuz T-12 with spacewalk Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) |
Igor Volk was a test pilot, and was planned to be the commander of the first Buran spaceflight. The rule introduced following the Soyuz 25 failure, insisted that all Soviet spaceflight must have at least one crew member who has been to space before. As a result, it was decided that Volk should have spaceflight experience, and he was originally scheduled to visit Salyut 7 in 1983.[2] But following the failure of Soyuz T-8 to dock to Salyut 7, in April 1983, the Soyuz launch schedule was disrupted, and Volk's original crew members, Kizim and Solovyov, were rescheduled elsewhere.[2] They later became long-duration crew members of Salyut 7 EO-3, and Volk was scheduled fly in the passenger seat of a visiting mission Soyuz T-12 to the EO-3 crew, but the other members of the T-12 mission were not yet decided upon.[2]
In November 1983, NASA announced that during STS-41-G, Kathryn D. Sullivan would become the first woman to perform a spacewalk.[2] The NPO Energia chief decided that the Soviets would get there first, and assembled the Soyuz T-12 crew within a month of NASA's announcement, which included Volk as previously planned.
The back-up crew lists became available to Western space analysts in 1988, and they noted that the back-up crew contained a woman, but did not contain another LII test pilot. Judging from this, it appeared that, as reasons to have the Soyuz T-12 mission, achieving the first female spacewalk was more important than gaining experience for a potential Buran crew member.[2]
At the time of the mission the Buran program was still a state secret. The appearance of Volk as a crew member caused some, including the British Interplanetary Society magazine Spaceflight, to ask why a test pilot was occupying a Soyuz seat usually reserved for researchers or foreign cosmonauts.[2]
Position | Crew | |
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Commander | ![]() Fourth spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | ![]() Second and last spaceflight | |
Research Cosmonaut | ![]() Only spaceflight |
Position | Crew | |
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Commander | ![]() | |
Flight Engineer | ![]() | |
Research Cosmonaut | ![]() |
Soyuz T-12 was the 7th expedition to Salyut 7.
Volk was a glimpse of things which might have been: he was a Buran programme program pilot being flown in space to prove he would be able to pilot Buran back to Earth after an extended stay in space.
The crew of Soyuz T-12 (callsign Pamir), the second Visiting Expedition to visit the Mayaks, included veteran cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Buran shuttle program cosmonaut Igor Volk, and Svetlana Savitskaya. On July 25 Dzhanibekov and Savitskaya performed a 3 hr, 30 min EVA (Savitskaya became the first woman ever to perform EVA), during which they tested the URI multipurpose tool. They cut, welded, soldered, and coated metal samples. During the Pamirs’ stay, the six cosmonauts aboard Salyut 7 also conducted Rezonans tests and collected station air samples.
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Past missions (by spacecraft type) |
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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. |
← 1983 · Orbital launches in 1984 · 1985 → | |
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Kosmos 1522 · Kosmos 1523 · Kosmos 1524 · Kosmos 1525 · Kosmos 1526 · Kosmos 1527 · Kosmos 1528 · Kosmos 1529 | Kosmos 1530 | Kosmos 1531 | Kosmos 1532 | Yuri 2a | Kosmos 1533 | Kosmos 1534 | Shiyan Tongbu Tongxing Weixing 1 | OPS 0441 | Kosmos 1535 | STS-41-B (Westar 6 · Palapa B2 · IRT · SPAS-1A) | OPS 8737 · OPS 8737 SSU-1 · OPS 8737 SSU-2 · OPS 8737 SSU-3 | Kosmos 1536 | Soyuz T-10 | Ōzora | Gran' No.25L | Kosmos 1537 | Progress 19 | Kosmos 1538 | Kosmos 1539 | Landsat 5 · UoSAT-2 | Kosmos 1540 | Intelsat V F-8 | Kosmos 1541 | Kosmos 1542 | Kosmos 1543 | Kosmos 1544 | Ekran No.26L | Molniya-1 No.51 | Kosmos 1545 | Kosmos 1546 | Soyuz T-11 | Kosmos 1547 | STS-41-C (LDEF) | Shiyan Tongbu Tongxing Weixing 2 | Kosmos 1548 | OPS 7641 | Progress 20 | OPS 8424 | Kosmos 1549 | Gorizont No.19L | Progress 21 | Kosmos 1550 | Kosmos 1551 | Kosmos 1552 | Kosmos 1553 | Kosmos 1554 · Kosmos 1555 · Kosmos 1556 | Kosmos 1557 | Spacenet 1 | Kosmos 1558 | Progress 22 | Kosmos 1559 · Kosmos 1560 · Kosmos 1561 · Kosmos 1562 · Kosmos 1563 · Kosmos 1564 · Kosmos 1565 · Kosmos 1566 | Kosmos 1567 | Kosmos 1568 | Kosmos 1569 | Kosmos 1570 | Intelsat V F-9 | Kosmos 1571 | USA-1 | Kosmos 1572 | Kosmos 1573 | Kosmos 1574 | Gran' No.27L | Kosmos 1575 | USA-2 · USA-3 | Kosmos 1576 | Kosmos 1577 | Kosmos 1578 | Kosmos 1579 | Kosmos 1580 | Kosmos 1581 | Meteor-2 No.16 | Soyuz T-12 | Kosmos 1582 | Kosmos 1583 | Kosmos 1584 | Kosmos 1585 | Gorizont No.20L | Kosmos 1586 | Himawari 3 | ECS-2 · Telecom 1A | Kosmos 1587 | Kosmos 1588 | Kosmos 1589 | Molniya-1 No.53 | Progress 23 | Kosmos 1590 | CCE · IRM · UKS · SCE | Molniya-1 No.54 | Ekran No.27L | USA-4 | Kosmos 1591 | STS-41-D (SBS-4 · Leasat 2 · Telstar 3C) | Kosmos 1592 | Kosmos 1593 · Kosmos 1594 · Kosmos 1595 | Kosmos 1596 | USA-5 | Fanhui Shi Weixing 7 | Kosmos 1597 | Kosmos 1598 | Galaxy 3 | Kosmos 1599 | Kosmos 1600 | Kosmos 1601 | Kosmos 1602 | Kosmos 1603 | Kosmos 1604 | STS-41-G (ERBS · OSTA-3) | Kosmos 1605 | Nova 3 | Kosmos 1606 | Kosmos 1607 | STS-51-A (Anik D2 · Leasat 1) | Spacenet 2 · MARECS-2 | NATO 3D | Kosmos 1608 | Kosmos 1609 | Kosmos 1610 | Kosmos 1611 | Kosmos 1612 | Kosmos 1613 | USA-6 | NOAA-9 | Molniya-1 No.55 | Vega 1 | Kosmos 1614 | Kosmos 1615 | Vega 2 | USA-7 | |
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). |