Human Exploration
Soyuz 40 was the 16th and final mission to visit the Salyut 6 space station. It carried the the EP-10 crew, which visited the long-duration Soyuz T-4 resident crew. The mission began on May 14, 1981, 17:16:38 UTC, launching Commander Leonid Popov and Research Cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu, the first Romanian cosmonaut, into orbit. They docked with the station the next day. During their 7-day stay on the station, EP-10 crew conducted Earth observation, material, medical and other experiments, including Earth magnetic field and space radiation study. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on May 22, 1981, 13:58:30 UTC.
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
#2,435
CCCP Mission
#1,488
Pad Launch
#186
Location Launch
#595
Designator
1981-042
May 14, 1981, 5:16 PM
Second
1 update
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
May 14, 1981, 11:16 PM
Total Launches
1,564
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
45.9650, 63.3050
