Soyuz T-9 - Mission Highlights

Mission Highlights

4th expedition to Salyut 7. Its mission was heavily impacted by the Soyuz T-8 docking failure and the Soyuz T-10a Soyuz booster failures which bracketed it.

Almost immediately after docking at Salyut 7’s aft port, the crew entered Cosmos 1443 and commenced transferring the 3.5 tons of cargo lining its walls to Salyut 7.

Window impact: On July 27 a small object struck a Salyut 7 viewport. It blasted out a 4-mm crater, but did not penetrate the outer of the window’s two panes. The Soviets believed it was a member of the Delta Aquariid meteor shower, though it may have been a small piece of orbital debris.

The crew loaded Cosmos 1443’s VA capsule with 350 kg of experiment results and hardware no longer in use. It could have held 500 kg, had they had that much to put in. Cosmos 1443 then undocked, in spite of Western predictions that the FGB component would remain attached to Salyut 7 as a space station module. The VA capsule soft-landed on August 23, and the FGB component continued in orbit until it was deorbited over the Pacific Ocean on September 19.

Soyuz programme

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 33 34 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–)	TMA-01M TMA-02M TMA-03M TMA-04M

Current	TMA-05M TMA-06M

Planned	TMA-07M TMA-08M TMA-09M TMA-10M TMA-11M TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M TMA-16M TMA-17M

Unmanned	Kosmos 133 7K-OK No.2 Kosmos 140 Kosmos 186 Kosmos 188 Kosmos 212 Kosmos 213 Kosmos 238 Soyuz 2 Kosmos 496 Kosmos 573 Kosmos 613 Kosmos 638 Kosmos 656 Kosmos 670 Kosmos 672 Kosmos 772 Soyuz 20 Kosmos 869 Kosmos 1001 Soyuz 32 Kosmos 1074 Soyuz 34 Soyuz T-1 Soyuz TM-1

Famous quotes containing the word mission:

“Not in vain is Ireland pouring itself all over the earth. Divine Providence has a mission for her children to fulfill; though a mission unrecognized by political economists. There is ever a moral balance preserved in the universe, like the vibrations of the pendulum. The Irish, with their glowing hearts and reverent credulity, are needed in this cold age of intellect and skepticism.”
—Lydia M. Child (1802–1880)