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Dzhanibekov Makarov

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10 January 1978 12:26 GMT. Landing Date: 1978-01-16 11:25:00. Flight Time: 5.96 days. Alternate Name: Soyuz 27. Flight Up: Soyuz 27. Flight Back: Soyuz 26. Call Sign: Pamir (Pamir mountains). Crew: Dzhanibekov, Makarov. Backup Crew: Ivanchenkov, Kovalyonok. Program: Salyut 6.

Of note: First docking to a space station of two manned spacecraft at one time. First station 'lifeboat' swap. First crew to visit another already aboard a space station.

Narrative (adapted from D S F Portree's Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA RP-1357, 1995)

Soyuz 27 docked without incident at the front port of Salyut 6 carrying cosmonauts Oleg Makarov and Vladimir Dzhanibekov, who formed the first Visiting Expedition crew in the Soviet space station program (or, for that matter, in any space station program). For the docking, the Tamyrs withdrew to their Soyuz 26 spacecraft and sealed the hatch into Salyut 6 behind them. This was done in the event of a depressurisation emergency associated with the docking of Soyuz 27. There was also some concern that stresses and vibrations produced when the 7-ton Soyuz 27 spacecraft contacted the front port might transmit through Salyut 6, forcibly uncoupling Soyuz 26 from the rear port. The Soyuz 27-Salyut 6-Soyuz 26 combination massed about 33,000 kg and featured seven compartments: two descent modules, two orbital modules, the transfer compartment, the work compartment, and the small aft intermediate compartment. The four cosmonauts conducted many experiments, including Rezonans, which was designed to determine if resonant frequencies might threaten the structural integrity of the three-spacecraft combination. The experiment called for the cosmonauts to jump around Salyut 6 on command from the TsUP. The guest crew spent 5 days on Salyut 6, then returned to Earth in Soyuz 26, leaving the fresh Soyuz 27 spacecraft for the Tamyrs. This was the first of many such spacecraft swaps.

• 1978 Jan 10 - Soyuz 27  Crew: Dzhanibekov, Makarov. Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-T. Payload: Soyuz 7K-T s/n 44. Mass: 6,800 kg (14,900 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 64.95 days. Perigee: 190 km (110 mi). Apogee: 237 km (147 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 88.70 min.

  Manned two crew. Carried Oleg Makarov, Vladimir Dzhanibekov to Salyut 6; returned crew of Soyuz 26 to Earth. Docked with Salyut 6.

• 1978 Jan 16 - Landing of Soyuz 26 

  Soyuz 26 landed at 11:25 GMT with the crew of Dzhanibekov and Makarov aboard.

• USAF Satellite Database, USAF Institute of Technology, 1995. Accessed at: ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/.

• McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.

• JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Accessed at: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.

• Clark, Philip, The Soviet Manned Space Program, Salamander Books, London, 1988. ISBN: 051756954X. By far the best account of the Soviet manned program, though now out of date due to the flood of revelations since Glasnost and the end of the cold war. More at amazon.com...

• Furniss, Tim, Manned Spaceflight Log, Jane's, London, 1986. ISBN: 0710604025. Summary of all manned spaceflights up to 1986. Pre-Glasnost, so many 'war stories' of Soviet manned spaceflight are not included. More at amazon.com...

• Portree, David S. F., Mir Hardware Heritage, NASA Reference Publication 1357, March 1995. Excellent overview, needing some updating in line with more recent revelations on Soviet programs. Considered the NASA ISS team Bible on Russian space hardware.