| Mission type | Astronomy |
|---|---|
| Operator | Soviet space program |
| COSPAR ID | 1973-103A |
| SATCAT no. | 06982 |
| Mission duration | 7 days 20 hours 55 minutes 35 seconds |
| Orbits completed | 127 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz 7K-T No.2 |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz 7K-T-AF |
| Manufacturer | Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1) |
| Launch mass | 6570 kg [1] |
| Landing mass | 1200 kg |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 2 |
| Members | Pyotr Klimuk Valentin Lebedev |
| Callsign | Кавказ (Kavkaz - "Caucasus") |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 18 December 1973, 11:55:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz |
| Launch site | Baikonur, Site 1/5[2] |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 26 December 1973, 08:50:35 UTC |
| Landing site | 200 km at the southwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit[3] |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 225.0 km |
| Apogee altitude | 272.0 km |
| Inclination | 51.60° |
| Period | 89.20 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]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Displaywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Trajectorywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Clark, Phillip (1988). The Soviet Manned Space Program. New York: Orion Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-517-56954-X.
- ^ Newkirk, Dennis (1990). Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87201-848-2.