Soyuz 9

Soyuz 9 (Russian: Союз 9, Union 9) was a 1970 Soviet manned space flight. The two-man crew of Andrian Nikolayev and Vitali Sevastyanov broke the five-year-old space endurance record held by Gemini 7, with their nearly 18-day flight. The mission paved the way for the Salyut space station missions, investigating the effects of long-term weightlessness on crew, and evaluating the work that the cosmonauts could do in orbit, individually and as a team. It was also the last flight of the first-generation Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft, as well as the first manned space launch to be conducted at night. To date, Soyuz 9 marks the longest manned flight by a solo spacecraft.

Crew

Backup crew

Reserve crew

Mission highlights

Soyuz 9 on the 1971 USSR commemorative stamp "424 hours On Earth's Orbit"

Commander Andrian Nikolayev and flight engineer Vitaly Sevastyanov spent 18 days in space conducting various physiological and biomedical experiments on themselves, but also investigating the social implications of prolonged spaceflight. The cosmonauts spent time in two-way TV links with their families, watched the World Cup football game, played chess (including this chess game with the crew as white; it was the first chess game played across space) with ground control, and voted in a Soviet election. The mission set a new space endurance record and marked a shift in emphasis away from spacefarers merely being able to exist in space for the duration of a long mission (such as the Apollo flights to the moon) and being able to live in space.

The mission took an unexpected physical toll on the cosmonauts; in order to conserve attitude control gas during the lengthy stay in orbit, Soyuz 9 was placed in a spin-stabilization mode that made Nikolayev and Sevastyanov dizzy and space sick. When landing finally came, they required help exiting the descent module and were virtually unable to walk for a few days. Nonetheless, this experience proved the importance of providing crews with exercise equipment during missions.

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6590 kg (14,530 lb)
• Perigee: 176 km (109 mi)
• Apogee: 227 km (141 mi)
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 88.5 min

References

Soyuz programme Main topics Soyuz (rocket family) Soyuz (spacecraft) Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 Site 31/6 List of Soviet manned space missions List of Russian manned space missions Uncrewed missions Soyuz 7K-OK Kosmos 133 Kosmos 140 Kosmos 186 Kosmos 188 Kosmos 212 Kosmos 213 Kosmos 238 Soyuz 2 Soyuz 7K-L1/L1S (Zond lunar programme) Kosmos 146 Kosmos 154 Zond 1967A Zond 1967B Zond 4 Zond 1968A Zond 1968B Zond 5 Zond 6 Zond 1969A Zond-M 1 Zond-M 2 Zond 7 Zond 8 Zond 9 Zond 10 Soyuz 7K-T Kosmos 496 Kosmos 573 Kosmos 613 Kosmos 656 Soyuz 32 (uncrewed landing) Soyuz 34 (uncrewed launch) Soyuz 7K-TM Kosmos 638 Kosmos 672 Soyuz 7K-S Kosmos 670 Kosmos 772 Kosmos 869 Soyuz 7K-T/A9 Soyuz 20 Soyuz-T ("Soyuz 7K-ST") Kosmos 1001 Kosmos 1074 Soyuz T-1 Soyuz-TM ("Soyuz 7K-STM") Soyuz TM-1 Crewed 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 (crewed launch) 33 34 (crewed 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 TMA-10M TMA-11M TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M TMA-16M Current Soyuz-TMA-M (2014–2015) TMA-17M TMA-18M Planned Soyuz-TMA-M (2015–2016) TMA-19M TMA-20M Soyuz-MS (2016– ) MS-01 MS-02 MS-03 MS-04 MS-05