Soyuz 17

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Soyuz 17
Mission statistics
Mission name Soyuz 17
Crew size 2
Call sign Зенит (Zenit - "Zenith")
Launch date January 11, 1975
21:43:37 UTC
Gagarin's Start
Landing February 9, 1975
11:03:22 UTC
110km NE of Tselinograd
Mission duration 29d/13:19:45
Number of orbits 479
Related missions
Previous mission Next mission
Soyuz 16 Soyuz 18a

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: 6800 kg
  • Perigee: 185 km
  • Apogee: 249 km
  • Inclination: 51.6°
  • Period: 88.8 min

[edit] Mission highlights

Soyuz 17 carried cosmonauts Georgi Grechko and Aleksei Gubarev to the Salyut 4 space station for a month-long stay. Upon entering the new station, they found a humorous note from its builders, telling them to "Wipe your feet!"

When Soyuz 17 docked, Salyut 4 was in an unusually high circular orbit at 350 km. Astrophysics was a major component of their mission (hence the high altitude). The crew discovered that the main mirror of the solar telescope had been ruined by direct exposure to sunlight when the pointing system failed. They resurfaced the mirror and worked out a way of pointing the telescope using a stethoscope, stopwatch, and the noises the moving mirror made in its casing.

Experiments carried out on board the station were mostly of an astronomical nature, with observations of the Sun, the Earth, and the planets.

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Soyuz programme
Planned
TMA-13 · TMA-14  · TMA-15 · TMA-16 · TMA-17
Current
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TMA-1 · TMA-2 · TMA-3 · TMA-4 · TMA-5 · TMA-6 · TMA-7 · TMA-8 · TMA-9 · TMA-10 · TMA-11
Soyuz-TM (1986–2003)
TM-2 · TM-3 · TM-4 · TM-5 TM-6 · TM-7 · TM-8 · TM-9 · TM-10 · TM-11 · TM-12 · TM-13 · TM-14 · TM-15 · TM-16 · TM-17 · TM-18 · TM-19 · TM-20 · TM-21 · TM-22 · TM-23 · TM-24 · TM-25 · TM-26 · TM-27 · TM-28 · TM-29 · TM-30 · TM-31 · TM-32 · TM-33 · TM-34
Soyuz-T (1976–1986)
T-2 · T-3 · T-4 · T-5 · T-6 · T-7 · T-8 · T-9 · T-10-1 · T-10 · T-11 · T-12 · T-13 · T-14 · T-15
Soyuz 7K-TM (1975–1976)
19 · 22
Soyuz 7K-T (1973–1981)
12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18a · 18  · 21 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40
Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971)
10 · 11
Soyuz 7K-OK (1966–1971)
1 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9
Unmanned