Success
Soyuz 29
Human Exploration
Soviet Space Program(CCCP)Government
Soyuz U
LEOorbit
Soyuz 29 was the fourth mission to visit the Salyut 6 space station and carried the the EO-2 expedition, which was the second long-duration crew for the station. The mission began on June 15, 1978, 20:16:45 UTC, launching Commander Vladimir Kovalyonok and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Ivanchenkov into orbit. They docked with the station the next day. During their 136-day stay on the station, EO-2 crew conducted various scientific experiments, performed an EVA and were visited by three uncrewed Progress cargo spacecrafts and two visiting crews, Soyuz 30 and Soyuz 31. EO-2 crew swapped the vehicles with the Soyuz 31 crew, and returned to Earth in Soyuz 31 spacecraft. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on November 2, 1978, 11:05:00 UTC.
Thursday, June 15, 1978 at 8:16 PM
Mission details
The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok and Voskhod programmes.
Nov 28, 1966 — ongoing
The Salyut programme was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissance space stations over a period of 15 years, from 1971 to 1986.
Apr 19, 1971 — Jul 16, 1986
Orbital Attempt
#2,108
CCCP Mission
#1,224
Pad Launch
#166
Location Launch
#521
Designator
1978-061
Launch Window
NET
Jun 15, 1978, 8:16 PM
Precision
Second
Schedule Changes
1 update
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian crewed spaceflights are launched from Baikonur.
Timezone
Asia/Qyzylorda
Local Launch Time
Jun 16, 1978, 1:16 AM
Total Launches
1,563
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
45.9650, 63.3050
Soyuz U Specs
Length
51.1 m
Diameter
2.95 m
Launch Mass
313 t
LEO Capacity
6,900 kg
Reusable
No
Maiden Flight
1973
Fastest Turnaround
1h 10m
Total Launches
714
Successful
694
Failed
20
Consecutive Success
1
Maiden flight: May 18, 1973
Soviet Space Program
The Soviet space program, was the national space program of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) actived from 1930s until disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Soviet Union's space program was mainly based on the cosmonautic exploration of space and the development of the expandable launch vehicles, which had been split between many design bureaus competing against each other. Over its 60-years of history, the Russian program was responsible for a number of pioneering feats and accomplishments in the human space flight, including the first intercontinental ballistic missile (R-7), first satellite (Sputnik 1), first animal in Earth orbit (the dog Laika on Sputnik 2), first human in space and Earth orbit (cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1), first woman in space and Earth orbit (cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova on Vostok 6), first spacewalk (cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on Voskhod 2), first Moon impact (Luna 2), first image of the far side of the Moon (Luna 3) and unmanned lunar soft landing (Luna 9), first space rover (Lunokhod 1), first sample of lunar soil automatically extracted and brought to Earth (Luna 16), and first space station (Salyut 1). Further notable records included the first interplanetary probes: Venera 1 and Mars 1 to fly by Venus and Mars, respectively, Venera 3 and Mars 2 to impact the respective planet surface, and Venera 7 and Mars 3 to make soft landings on these planets.
Founded
1931
Total Launches
2,456
Successful
2,288
Failed
168
Pending
0
Consecutive Success
17