Soyuz 37

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Soyuz 37
Crew: Viktor Gorbatko with Phạm Tuân
COSPAR ID1980-064A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.11905
Mission duration79 days, 15 hours, 16 minutes, 54 seconds
Orbits completed124
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz 7K-T
ManufacturerNPO Energia
Launch mass6,800 kilograms (15,000 lb)
Crew
Crew size2
LaunchingViktor Gorbatko
Pham Tuân
LandingLeonid Popov
Valery Ryumin
CallsignТерек (TerekTerek River
Start of mission
Launch dateJuly 23, 1980, 18:33:03 (1980-07-23UTC18:33:03Z) UTC
RocketSoyuz-U
Launch siteBaikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing dateOctober 11, 1980, 09:49:57 (1980-10-11UTC09:49:58Z) UTC
Landing site180 kilometres (110 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude197.8 kilometres (122.9 mi)
Apogee altitude293.1 kilometres (182.1 mi)
Inclination51.61 degrees
Period89.12 minutes
Docking with Salyut 6
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 

Soyuz 37 (Russian: Союз 37, Union 37) was a 1980 Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the 13th mission to and 11th successful docking at the orbiting facility. The Soyuz 37 crew were the third to visit the long-duration Soyuz 35 resident crew.[1]

Soyuz 37 carried Soviet Viktor Gorbatko and Pham Tuan, the first Asian and first Vietnamese cosmonaut, into space. They swapped Soyuz craft with the long-duration crew and returned to Earth in Soyuz 36, the resident crew later used their craft to return to Earth.

Crew[edit]

Position Launching crew Landing crew
Commander Soviet Union Viktor Gorbatko
Third spaceflight
Soviet Union Leonid Popov
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer Vietnam Pham Tuan
Only spaceflight
Soviet Union Valery Ryumin
Third spaceflight

Backup crew[edit]

Position Crew
Commander Soviet Union Valery Bykovsky
Flight Engineer Vietnam Bui Thanh Liem

Mission parameters[edit]

  • Mass: 6,800 kg (15,000 lb)
  • Perigee: 197.8 km (122.9 mi)
  • Apogee: 293.1 km (182.1 mi)
  • Inclination: 51.61°
  • Period: 89.12 minutes

Mission highlights[edit]

Pham Tuan of Vietnam arrived with Commander Viktor Gorbatko aboard Salyut 6 in Soyuz 37; they both returned to Earth in the Soyuz 36 spacecraft approximately eight days later. Tuan's 30 experiments involved observing Vietnam from space, life sciences (including tests of growth of Vietnamese azolla water ferns, with application to future closed-loop life support systems), and materials processing. The long-duration crew launched in Soyuz 35 returned to Earth in the Soyuz 37 spacecraft at the end of their 186-day mission.

References[edit]

External links[edit]