Image: Don S. Montgomery, USN / U.S. Navy (public domain)
Soyuz T-8
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 1983-04-20 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 (Gagarin's Start) |
| Launch vehicle | Soyuz-U |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz T-8 (Soyuz 7K-ST No. 11L) |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 1983-04-22 |
| Duration | 2 days 17 minutes |
| Partners | Soviet Space Program |
Overview
Soyuz T-8 was the first spaceflight of commander Vladimir Titov, a mission defined by cool-headed crisis judgement rather than success. Launched on 20 April 1983 with flight engineer Gennady Strekalov and cosmonaut researcher Aleksandr Serebrov, the crew was bound for the Salyut 7 station. But the Igla rendezvous radar's antenna boom failed to deploy; investigators later concluded it had been torn away when the payload shroud separated at launch. Flying blind on radar, Titov attempted a manual approach guided only by an optical sight and ground tracking. In the darkness of orbital night he judged the closing speed dangerously high and, to avoid colliding with the station, aborted the rendezvous metres from disaster. The crew returned safely after just two days. Titov would later command the ill-fated Soyuz T-10a pad abort before logging a full year aboard Mir.
Crew
Vladimir Titov
Commander
First spaceflight; aborted the docking to prevent a collision
Gennady Strekalov
Flight Engineer
Aleksandr Serebrov
Cosmonaut Researcher
Key Milestones
1983-04-20
Launch from Baikonur at 13:11 UTC; rendezvous antenna fails to deploy
1983-04-21
Manual rendezvous with Salyut 7 attempted using optical sight and ground radar
1983-04-22
Titov aborts docking to avoid collision and lands safely NE of Arkalyk
Key Achievements
Vladimir Titov's first spaceflight
Crew safely aborted a manual docking with Salyut 7 after radar failure, averting a collision
First failure to dock at a space station since Soyuz 33 (1979)
