Progress 8 (), 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 country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

uncrewed

Progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...

cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1980 to resupply the

Salyut 6 Salyut 6 () was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme, and alternatively known DOS-5 as it was the fifth of the Durable Orbital Station series of civilian space stations. It was launched on 29 September 19 ...

space station.

Spacecraft

Progress 8 was a Progress 7K-TG spacecraft. The eighth of forty three to be launched, it had the

serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...

108. The Progress 7K-TG spacecraft was the first generation

, derived from the

Soyuz 7K-T The second generation of the Soyuz spacecraft, the ''Soyuz 7K-T'', comprised Soyuz 12 through Soyuz 40 (1973–1981). In the wake of the Soyuz 11 tragedy, the spacecraft was redesigned to accommodate two cosmonauts who would wear pressure ...

and intended for uncrewed logistics missions to space stations in support of the

Salyut programme The ''Salyut'' programme (, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissa ...

. On some missions the spacecraft were also used to adjust the orbit of the space station. The Progress spacecraft had a dry mass of , which increased to around when fully fuelled. It measured in length, and in diameter. Each spacecraft could accommodate up to of payload, consisting of dry cargo and propellant. The spacecraft were powered by chemical batteries, and could operate in free flight for up to three days, remaining docked to the station for up to thirty.

Launch

Progress 8 launched on 27 March 1980 from 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 ...

in the

Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental country, transcontinental Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Un ...

. It used a

Soyuz-U Soyuz-U ( GRAU index: 11A511U) was a Soviet and later Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed by the TsSKB design bureau and constructed at the Progress factory in Samara, Russia. The ''U'' designation stands for ''unified' ...

rocket.

Docking

Progress 8 docked with Salyut 6 on 29 March 1980 at 20:01 UTC.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1980 Progress (spacecraft) missions 1980 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched in 1980 Spacecraft which reentered in 1980 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets

Spacecraft

Launch

Docking

See also

References