Soyuz T-7 (; code name Dnieper) was the third Soviet space mission to the

Salyut 7 Salyut 7 (), also known as DOS-6 (Durable Orbital Station 6) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first crewed in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Va ...

space station. Crew member

Svetlana Savitskaya Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya (; born 8 August 1948) is a Russian former aviator and Soviet cosmonaut who flew aboard Soyuz T-7 in 1982, becoming the second woman in space. On her 1984 Soyuz T-12 mission she became the first woman to fly t ...

was the first woman in space in almost twenty years, since

Valentina Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born 6 March 1937) is a Russian engineer, member of the State Duma, and former Soviet cosmonaut. She was the first Women in space, woman in space, having flown a solo mission on Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. S ...

who flew in 1963 on

Vostok 6 Vostok 6 () was the first human spaceflight to carry a woman, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, into space. Mission The spacecraft was launched on 16 June 1963. It set the record for highest orbital inclination of a crewed spacecraft at 65°, a rec ...

. Savitskaya was given the orbital module of Soyuz T-7 for privacy. The Soyuz T-7 crew delivered experiments and mail from home to the Elbrus crew. On August 21 the five cosmonauts traded seat liners between the Soyuz Ts. The Dnieper undocked in Soyuz T-5, leaving the newer Soyuz T-7 spacecraft for the long-duration crew.

Crew

Backup crew

Mission highlights

Soyuz T-7 was an early flight to Salyut 7, the Soviet successor to

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 ...

. The crew which launched on Soyuz T-7 remained aboard the station for eight days, as a short-term "visiting crew", accompanying the station's long-term resident crew. The crew exchanged Soyuz vehicles with the resident crew, returning home in the older Soyuz T-5, leaving the fresher Soyuz T-7 available to the resident crew as a return vehicle. This practice had been used several times on Salyut 6. Savitskaya became the second woman in space, and the first to visit a space station.

Mission parameters

* Mass: 6,850 kg * Perigee: 289 km * Apogee: 299 km * Inclination: 51.6° * Period: 90.3 minutes

Gallery

File:USSR Stamp 1983 SouzT7 Salyut7 SouzT5 Cosmonauts.jpg, Dnieper crew File:1983 CPA 5386.jpg, Elbrus crew

References