Soyuz 12

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Soyuz 12
Mission statistics
Mission name Soyuz 12
Crew size 2
Call sign Урал (Ural - "Ural")
Launch date September 27, 1973
12:18:16 UTC
Gagarin's Start
Landing September 29, 1973
11:33:48 UTC
Mission duration 1d/23:15:32
Number of orbits 31
Related missions
Previous mission Next mission
Soyuz 11 Soyuz 13

Soyuz 12 was the test flight of the newly-redesigned Soyuz spacecraft that was intended to provide greater crew safety in the wake of the Soyuz 11 tragedy. The crew capacity of the capsule had been decreased from three to two cosmonauts to allow for space suits to be worn during launch, re-entry, and potentially hazardous maneuvers such as docking.

Cosmonauts Vasili Lazarev and Oleg Makarov were to evaluate the design, which proved to be successful and well-behaved.

Contents

[edit] Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

[edit] Backup crew

[edit] Reserve crew

[edit] Mission parameters

  • Mass: 6720 kg
  • Perigee: 306 km
  • Apogee: 348 km
  • Inclination: 51.0°
  • Period: 91.0 min