Soyuz 13

Soyuz 13
Mission typeAstronomy
OperatorSoviet space program
COSPAR ID1973-103A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.06982
Mission duration7 days 20 hours 55 minutes 35 seconds
Orbits completed127
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSoyuz 7K-T No.2
Spacecraft typeSoyuz 7K-T-AF
ManufacturerExperimental Design Bureau (OKB-1)
Launch mass6570 kg [1]
Landing mass1200 kg
Crew
Crew size2
MembersPyotr Klimuk
Valentin Lebedev
CallsignКавказ (Kavkaz - "Caucasus")
Start of mission
Launch date18 December 1973,
11:55:00 UTC
RocketSoyuz
Launch siteBaikonur, Site 1/5[2]
End of mission
Landing date26 December 1973,
08:50:35 UTC
Landing site200 km at the southwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit[3]
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude225.0 km
Apogee altitude272.0 km
Inclination51.60°
Period89.20 minutes

Vimpel Diamond for entrainment patch

a post stamp depicting the crew

Soyuz 13 (Russian: Союз 13, Union 13) was a December, 1973, Soviet crewed space flight, the second test flight of the redesigned Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft that first flew as Soyuz 12. The spacecraft was specially modified to carry the Orion 2 Space Observatory. The flight, crewed by Pyotr Klimuk and Valentin Lebedev, was the Soviet Union's first dedicated science mission,[4] and was the first mission controlled by the new Kaliningrad Mission Control Center.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Display was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Trajectory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Clark, Phillip (1988). The Soviet Manned Space Program. New York: Orion Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-517-56954-X.
  5. ^ Newkirk, Dennis (1990). Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87201-848-2.