Soyuz 33

Soyuz 33
OperatorSoviet space program
COSPAR ID1979-029A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.11324
Mission duration1 day, 23 hours and 1 minute
Orbits completed31
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz 7K-T
ManufacturerNPO Energia
Launch mass6,860 kg (15,120 lb)
Crew
Crew size2
MembersNikolai Rukavishnikov
Georgi Ivanov
CallsignСатурн (Saturn) - "Saturn"
Start of mission
Launch dateApril 10, 1979, 17:34:34 (1979-04-10UTC17:34:34Z) UTC
RocketSoyuz-U
Launch siteBaikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing dateApril 12, 1979, 16:35:40 (1979-04-12UTC16:35:41Z) UTC
Landing site320 km (200 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric[1]
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude198.6 km (123.4 mi)
Apogee altitude279.2 km (173.5 mi)
Inclination51.61°

Soyuz 33 (Russian: Союз 33, Union 33) was an April, 1979, Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station.[1] It was the ninth mission to the orbiting facility, but an engine failure forced the mission to be aborted, and the crew had to return to Earth before docking with the station. It was the first failure of a Soyuz engine during orbital operations.

Soyuz 33 descent module in Aviation museum Plovdiv

The two-man crew, commander Nikolai Rukavishnikov and Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov, suffered a steep ballistic re-entry, but were safely recovered. The original intention of the mission had been to visit the orbiting crew for about a week and leave a fresh vehicle for the station crew to return to Earth in. The mission failure meant that the orbiting Salyut 6 crew lacked a reliable return vehicle as their Soyuz had the same suspect engine as Soyuz 33. A subsequent crewed flight was canceled and a vacant craft (Soyuz 34) with a redesigned engine was sent for the crew to use.

Inside of Soyuz 33 descent module in Aviation museum Plovdiv
  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference spacefacts was invoked but never defined (see the help page).