Soyuz 14 (, ''Union 14'') was a July, 1974, crewed

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...

to the

Salyut 3 Salyut 3 (, also known as OPS-2 or Almaz 2Portree (1995).) was a Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental coun ...

space station A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...

. ''Soyuz 14'' is also the name given to the

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

which was used to bring the cosmonauts to and from the station. The mission was part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Almaz The Almaz () program was a highly secret Soviet Union, Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s. Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. To co ...

program to evaluate the military applications of crew spaceflight. The mission's crew members were

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

Pavel Popovich Pavel Romanovich Popovich (; ; 5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet cosmonaut. Popovich was the fourth cosmonaut in space, the sixth person in orbit, the eighth person and first Ukrainians, Ukrainian in space. Bio ...

and Yuri Artyukhin. At the time, the military nature of this mission and the station itself were not acknowledged by Soviet authorities. The flight was the first successful mission to a space station by the Soviets. The mission proved to be the only one for Salyut 3 as

Soyuz 15 Soyuz 15 (, ''Union 15'') was an August 1974 crewed space flight which was to have been the second mission to the Soviet Union's Salyut 3 space station with presumably military objectives. Launched 26 August 1974, the Soyuz spacecraft arriv ...

failed to dock with the station in August 1974 and the station was de-orbited in January 1975. With the American

Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...

missions now complete, the flight marked the start of the monopoly of crewed space activities by the Soviets until the 1981 launch of

STS-1 STS-1 (Space Transportation System-1) was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. The first orbiter, ''Columbia'', launched on April 12, 1981, and returned on April 14, 1981, 54.5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 3 ...

, the first

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

flight, save for the joint

Apollo–Soyuz Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international Space exploration, space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo comm ...

flight of 1975.

Crew

Backup crew

Reserve crew

Mission parameters

*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.60° *Period: 89.70 minutes

Mission highlights

With the

successfully launched on 24 June 1974, Soyuz 14 was sent into orbit nine days later, on 3 July 1974. The craft docked with the space station the next day, performing a manual approach for the last 100 metres. The crew tested the suitability of Salyut 3 as a crewed military reconnaissance platform. They also tested Almaz station systems, such as the

solar arrays A photovoltaic system, also called a PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to abs ...

. Increased

solar activity Solar phenomena are natural phenomena which occur within the Stellar atmosphere, atmosphere of the Sun. They take many forms, including solar wind, Solar radio emission, radio wave flux, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, Stellar corona#Coron ...

raised safety issues, but it was decided

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

levels were within safe limits, so the flight continued. Experiments were described by the Soviets, but analysts presumed that much time was taken up with unreported

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

activities. Claims were made in the aerospace press that objects were laid out at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

to photograph to test a

high-resolution Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

system on board. Some of the experiments the Soviets described included studies of the

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

and

circulatory system In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart ...

s in orbit, studies of

intracranial pressure Intracranial pressure (ICP) is the pressure exerted by fluids such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inside the skull and on the brain tissue. ICP is measured in millimeters of mercury ( mmHg) and at rest, is normally 7–15 mmHg for a supine adu ...

, monitoring of

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

composition, measuring of

lung capacity Lung volumes and lung capacities are measures of the volume of air in the lungs at different phases of the respiratory cycle. The average total lung capacity of an adult human male is about 6 litres of air. Tidal breathing is normal, resting br ...

and inhalation/exhalation rates and the testing of a

water purification Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended solids, and gases from water. The goal is to produce water that is fit for specific purposes. Most water is purified and disinfected for hu ...

system which condensed moisture from the station's atmosphere. The cosmonauts exercised for two hours each day to counter the effects of

weightlessness Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...

. Because of this, they were able to climb from their Soyuz descent module without assistance when their flight ended on 19 July 1974. The crew left enough supplies on Salyut 3 to last the next crew at least six months.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1974 Crewed Soyuz missions 1974 in spaceflight 1974 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched in 1974