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Volynov Zholobov

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Almaz right exterior Credit - © Mark Wade

6 July 1976 12:09 GMT. Landing Date: 1976-08-24 18:32:32. Flight Time: 49.27 days. Flight Up: Soyuz 21. Flight Back: Soyuz 21. Call Sign: Baikal (Baikal - lake in Siberia). Crew: Volynov, Zholobov. Backup Crew: Rozhdestvensky, Zudov. Support Crew: Berezovoi, Glazkov, Gorbatko, Lisun. Program: Almaz.

What went wrong: Crew member became psychotic and mission was returned to earth from space station early. Toxic gases in station were suspected. Soyuz 21 with Volynov and Zholobov aboard hard-docked with the Salyut 5 station on 6 July 1976 after failure of the Igla system at the last stage of rendezvous. Towards the end of the two month mission an early return to earth was requested due to the poor condition of flight engineer Zholobov (who was suffering from space sickness and psychological problems). The crew landed in very bad physical and mental condition 200 km SW of Kokchetav on August 25, 1976 at 18:33 GMT. It was determined that they had become emotional, not followed their physical training, and developed an unreasonable desire to return to earth. The possibility also existed that there were toxic gases in the station.

• 1976 Jul 6 - Soyuz 21  Crew: Volynov, Zholobov. Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-T/A9. Payload: Soyuz 7K-T(A9) s/n 41. Mass: 6,800 kg (14,900 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 49.27 days. Perigee: 246 km (152 mi). Apogee: 274 km (170 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 89.70 min.

  Soyuz 21 with Volynov and Zholobov aboard hard-docked with the station on 6 July 1976 after failure of the Igla system at the last stage of rendezvous. Towards the end of the two month mission an early return to earth was requested due to the poor condition of flight engineer Zholobov (who was suffering from space sickness and psychological problems).

• 1976 Aug 24 - Landing of Soyuz 21 

  The crew landed in very bad physical and mental condition 200 km SW of Kokchetav at 18:33 GMT. It was determined that they had become emotional, not followed their physical training, and developed an unreasonable desire to return to earth. The possibility also existed that there were toxic gases in the station.

• 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...