Soyuz 39

Soyuz 39 was a 1981 Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the fifteenth expedition, and carried the eighth international crew to the orbiting facility.[1] The crew visited Vladimir Kovalyonok and Viktor Savinykh, who had reached Salyut-6 ten days prior.

Soyuz 39
COSPAR ID1981-029A
SATCAT no.12366
Mission duration7 days, 20 hours, 42 minutes, 3 seconds
Orbits completed124
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz 7K-T
ManufacturerNPO Energia
Launch mass6,800 kilograms (15,000 lb)
Crew
Crew size2
MembersVladimir Dzhanibekov
Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa
CallsignPamir (Pamirs)
Start of mission
Launch date22 March 1981, 14:58:55 (1981-03-22UTC14:58:55Z) UTC
RocketSoyuz-U
Launch siteBaikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date30 March 1981, 11:40:58 (1981-03-30UTC11:40:59Z) UTC
Landing site175 km SE of Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude197.5 kilometres (122.7 mi)
Apogee altitude282.8 kilometres (175.7 mi)
Inclination51.6 degrees
Period89.1 minutes
Docking with Salyut 6
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 

The flight carried Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa into space. With this mission, Gürragchaa became the first Mongolian, and second Asian cosmonaut.

The Mongolian contribution for this mission had begun in 1967, when the president of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences Bazaryn Shirendev attended a conference of scientists from socialist countries in Moscow, where the Intercosmos project was announced.[2] Dzhanibekov and Gürragchaa performed about thirty experiments during the course of the mission.[3]

Crew
Position Crew
Commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov
Second spaceflight
 Soviet Union
Research Cosmonaut Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa
Only spaceflight
 Mongolia

Backup crew
Position Crew
Commander Vladimir Lyakhov
 Soviet Union
Research Cosmonaut Maidarjavyn Ganzorig
 Mongolia

Mission parameters
  • Mass: 6800 kg
  • Perigee: 197.5 km
  • Apogee: 282.8 km
  • Inclination: 51.6°
  • Period: 89.01 minutes

Mission highlights
Coin commemorating the joint USSR-Mongolian spaceflight

Soyuz 39 docked with the first Mongolian cosmonaut aboard. The resident EO-6 crew assisted the Intercosmos crew with station equipment and oriented the station according to the needs of the visiting crew's experiments.

On 24 March, the cosmonauts installed cosmic ray detectors in the station's work and transfer compartments. On 26 March the cosmonauts performed the Illuminator ("viewing port") experiment, which studied the degradation of the station's viewports. On 27 March, Vladimir Kovalyonok and Viktor Savinykh of the resident crew used the Gologramma ("hologram") apparatus to image a viewing port damaged by micrometeoroids. They repeated this experiment the next day, when they also collected samples of the station's air and microflora and removed the cosmic ray detectors for return to Earth. 28–29 March were largely devoted to studies of Mongolia from space. The visiting crew also checked out their spacecraft on 29 March

The Soviet news service TASS noted that by 29 March, Salyut 6 had conducted 20,140 revolutions of Earth.

See also

References
  1. The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-39.htm
  2. "Сансрын хамтарсан нислэг". Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  3. "Зөвлөлт-монголын сансрын хамтарсан нислэгийн үеэр хийсэн эрдэм шинжилгээний сорил, туршилтууд". Retrieved 21 March 2012.
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