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Rozhdestvensky Zudov

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Soyuz 23 Credit - © Mark Wade

14 October 1976 17:40 GMT. Landing Date: 1976-10-16 17:46:35. Flight Time: 2.00 days. Flight Up: Soyuz 23. Flight Back: Soyuz 23. Call Sign: Radon (Radon ). Crew: Rozhdestvensky, Zudov. Backup Crew: Glazkov, Gorbatko. Support Crew: Berezovoi, Lisun. Program: Almaz.

What went wrong: Docking aborted due to electronics failure. Crew nearly froze to death after an emergency landing in a lake in a blizzard at -20 deg C. It took hours before the capsule could be dragged to shore. The Soyuz 23 ferry spacecraft suffered a docking system failure. Sensors indicated an incorrect lateral velocity, causing unnecessary firing of the thrusters during rendezvous. The automatic system was turned off, but no fuel remained for a manual docking with the Salyut 5 space station. The capsule landed in Lake Tengiz in -20 deg C conditions in a snowstorm. The wet parachute filled and dragged the capsule below the surface, cooling the capsule. Heating systems had to be turned in the capsule to conserve battery power. Amphibious vehicles attempted to recover the spacecraft but could not reach it. Finally swimmers managed to attach a cable to a helicopter. The capsule was dragged for kilometres across the icy sea. Only in the morning was the crew able to emerge from the capsule. The recovery crews were surprised they were still alive.

• 1976 Oct 14 - Soyuz 23  Crew: Rozhdestvensky, Zudov. Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-T/A9. Payload: Soyuz 7K-T(A9) s/n 65. Mass: 6,760 kg (14,900 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 2.00 days. Perigee: 239 km (148 mi). Apogee: 269 km (167 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 89.50 min.

  The Soyuz 23 ferry spacecraft suffered a docking system failure. Sensors indicated an incorrect lateral velocity, causing unnecessary firing of the thrusters during rendezvous. The automatic system was turned off, but no fuel remained for a manual docking by the crew.

• 1976 Oct 16 - Landing of Soyuz 23 

  The capsule landed at 17:46 GMT in Lake Tengiz in -20 deg C conditions in a snowstorm. The wet parachute filled and dragged the capsule below the surface, cooling the capsule. Heating systems had to be turned off in the capsule to conserve battery power. Amphibious vehicles attempted to recover the spacecraft but could not reach it. Finally swimmers managed to attach a cable to a helicopter. The capsule was dragged for kilometres across the icy sea. Only in the morning was the crew able to emerge from the capsule. The recovery crews were surprised they were still alive.

• 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...

• 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.