Soyuz 23

Soyuz 23 (Russian: Союз 23, Union 23) was a 1976 Soviet manned space flight, the second to the Salyut 5 space station. Cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky arrived at the station, but an equipment malfunction did not allow docking and the mission had to be aborted.^[2]

The crew returned to earth, but landed on partially frozen Lake Tengiz, the first splashdown in the Soviet space program. While there was no concern about any immediate threat to the crew, recovery took nine hours owing to fog and other adverse conditions.

Crew

Backup crew

Reserve crew

Mission highlights

Soyuz 23 was launched 14 October 1976 with an estimated 73- to 85-day mission planned aboard the orbiting Salyut 5 space station.^[3] Others suggest a 17- to 24-day mission was a more likely intention.^[4] It was the first visit to the station after the sudden termination of the Soyuz 21 mission in August. However on 15 October, during the automatic approach phase, the automatic docking system malfunctioned before the craft was within 100 metres of the station. Crews were normally trained for a manual dock, but not for a manual approach.^[3] The mission, accordingly, had to be abandoned.

The craft had only two days of battery power, so systems were powered off, including the radio, to conserve power.^[3] The day's landing opportunity had already passed, so they had to wait for the next day's landing opportunity near the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

On 16 October, Soyuz 23 returned to earth and landed 8:45 p.m. local time, but weather conditions were poor and the cosmonauts experienced an unusual recovery. They landed on a freezing Lake Tengiz, 8 km from shore, in the middle of a blizzard, with fog and temperatures at −22 °C.^[3] It was the first splashdown by a Soviet crew.^[4] The capsule was designed to land in any conditions, even in a body of water, so the only concern was the increased difficulty in finding the capsule and crew.^[3]

The parachute quickly filled with water and dragged the capsule and its crew beneath the surface. The capsule cooled in the freezing water, and the cosmonauts removed their pressure suits and donned their normal flight suits, expecting a quick rescue.

But the capsule's beacons could not be seen in the heavy fog, and rubber rafts used to try to reach them were blocked by ice and sludge. Amphibious vehicles were air-lifted to the vicinity, but could not reach the capsule owing to bogs surrounding the lake. Accordingly, the rescue was called off until dawn.^[3] The cosmonauts were safe, but they were low on power, so they were forced to shut down everything but a small interior light.

The next morning, frogmen were dropped in by helicopters, attached flotation devices to the Soyuz craft and recovered the crew. The capsule was too heavy to be lifted by the helicopter, so it was dragged to shore. The recovery operation had taken nine hours.^[3]

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6,760 kg (14,900 lb)
• Perigee: 239 km (149 mi)
• Apogee: 269 km (167 mi)
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 89.5 min

See also

• Splashdown (spacecraft landing)
• Space accidents and incidents

References

External links

• Drama on Tengiz Lake (in Russian) with photos
• Rescue operation on Tengiz Lake (in Russian)

v t e Soyuz programme Main topics Soyuz (rocket family) Soyuz (spacecraft) List of Soviet manned space missions List of Russian manned space missions Unmanned missions Kosmos 133 Kosmos 140 Kosmos 186 Kosmos 188 Kosmos 212 Kosmos 213 Kosmos 238 Soyuz 2 Kosmos 379 Kosmos 396 Kosmos 434 Kosmos 496 Kosmos 573 Kosmos 613 Kosmos 638 Kosmos 656 Kosmos 670 Kosmos 672 Kosmos 772 Soyuz 20 Kosmos 869 Kosmos 1001 Soyuz 32 (at landing) Kosmos 1074 Soyuz 34 (at start) Soyuz T-1 Soyuz TM-1 Manned missions Past Soyuz 7K-OK (1967–1970) 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971) 10 11 Soyuz 7K-T (1973–1981) 12 13 14 15 17 18a 18 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 (at start) 33 34 (at landing) 35 36 37 38 39 40 Soyuz 7K-TM (1974–1976) 16 19 22 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-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-TMA (2003–2012) TMA-1 TMA-2 TMA-3 TMA-4 TMA-5 TMA-6 TMA-7 TMA-8 TMA-9 TMA-10 TMA-11 TMA-12 TMA-13 TMA-14 TMA-15 TMA-16 TMA-17 TMA-18 TMA-19 TMA-20 TMA-21 TMA-22 Soyuz-TMA-M (2010–2013) TMA-01M TMA-02M TMA-03M TMA-04M TMA-05M TMA-06M TMA-07M TMA-08M TMA-09M Current Soyuz-TMA-M (2013–2014) TMA-10M TMA-11M Planned Soyuz-TMA-M (2014–2015) TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M TMA-16M TMA-17M TMA-18M TMA-19M Launch sites Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 Site 31/6