Soyuz 4
Soyuz 4 — Vladimir Shatalov (January 1969) flew the active craft in the first docking of two crewed spacecraft, then received two cosmonauts who spacewalked across from Soyuz 5.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- OKB-1 (USSR)
- Launched
- January 14, 1969
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 1.01 AU
- Distance from Earth
- 11,747 km
- Distance from Venus
- 0.564 AU
Mission
Soyuz 4 flew the active half of the Soviet Union's answer to Gemini 8: the first docking of two crewed spacecraft. Vladimir Shatalov launched alone on 14 January 1969 and, the next day, chased down Soyuz 5, which carried three cosmonauts. Flying the final approach by hand after the automatic system dropped out, Shatalov brought the two craft together and docked — the first time two crewed vehicles had ever linked in orbit. What followed had no precedent: because the early Soyuz had no internal tunnel between craft, two of Soyuz 5's crew, Aleksei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov, put on spacesuits, climbed out into open space and spacewalked across to Soyuz 4. Shatalov received them aboard, and the joined 'experimental space station', as Soviet media called it, had swapped crew between ships in orbit — a rehearsal of the transfers a lunar mission would need. Shatalov brought the enlarged crew home on 17 January.
- 1969Soyuz 4 launchesLaunch
Vladimir Shatalov flies up alone to attempt the first docking of two crewed craft.
- 1969The first crewed dockingMilestone
Shatalov manually docks with Soyuz 5; two of its crew then spacewalk across to join him.
- 1969LandingMission end
Shatalov brings the transferred crew home after the first ship-to-ship crew exchange in orbit.
Images
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