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Soyuz 3 ("Union 3", Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft completed 81 orbits over four days. The 47-year-old Beregovoy was a decorated WWII flying ace and the oldest person to go into space up to that time.
The Soviet space program had experienced great success in its early years, but by the mid-1960s the pace of success had grown sluggish. The Soviet space station program. The manned spacecraft Soyuz 1 was launched with the expectation of "union" with the manned Soyuz 2 craft, but even before the second craft was launched, it became apparent that the Soyuz 2 mission had to be canceled before the landing of Soyuz 1. This saved the lives of the crew of Soyuz 2; Soyuz 1 ended in disaster, as Commander Vladimir Komarov was killed on 23 April 1967 by a faulty parachute system and the Soyuz 2 mission would have flown with the same defective parachute system as Soyuz 1. As a result, revised spacecraft were built for the Soyuz 2 and Soyuz 3 missions in 1968.
The unmanned Soyuz 2 was launched on 25 October 1968, and Soyuz 3 followed it the next afternoon.[2] The mission had been given to Beregovoy, with cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov designated as the backup commander, and Boris Volynov in reserve. Entering outer space within a half an hour and already near Soyuz 2,[3] Beregovoy gradually guided his craft within docking range (under 200 meters) of the satellite.[4] The next day, having orbited the Earth numerous times, a second rendezvous of similar distance was completed. Just hours later, Soyuz 2 began its descent and was back on Earth by 8:00 am the next day. Beregovoy continued to orbit, making topographical and meteorological observations for the next two days.[5] Beregevoy also treated television viewers to the first "live" tour of a spaceship interior.[6]In addition, the Soviets published a photo of Soyuz 3's launch vehicle on the pad at Baikonour, marking the first time that the R-7 was shown to the outside world.
Beregovoy and Soyuz 3 came back to earth on 30 October 1968, after completing 81 full orbits of the Earth.[7] The re-entry vehicle landed near the city of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, fortuitously cushioned by a blizzard's snowfall.[8] Despite subzero temperatures, Beregovoy's landing was so easy he said later that he hardly felt the impact at all.[9] The Soviets hailed Soyuz 3 as a complete success. Beregovoy was promoted to Major General and named director of the national Center for Cosmonaut Training at Star City.
The launch of Soyuz 2 had not been reported by the Soviet Union, although other nations were aware through their own monitors.[10] It was not until Soyuz 3 was safely aloft that an official announcement was made. Contemporary Western news reports described the orbital mission of Soyuz 3 in the same manner as the Soviets, referring to a successful "rendezvous" with Soyuz 2, but characterizing it as a test with no actual ship-to-ship docking planned.[11] This interpretation was largely accepted for years afterward.[12] With information released after the breakup of the Soviet Union, historians began to reassess the presumed "success" of the mission: the early Soyuz missions had indeed been intended to perform a physical linkage between two spacecraft, and in this they had undeniably failed.[13] Moreover, the fault could be largely ascribed to piloting error by Beregovoy:[14] after a misaligned approach, Beregovoy's ineffective countermeasures burned up so much fuel that the mission simply could not be completed.[15]
The flight of Soyuz 3 had numerous effects on future space exploration both short- and long-term. The flawless recovery of Soyuz 3 left the spacecraft designers with the impression that re-entry and landing systems had been perfected: the crash-landing of the Zond 6 satellite just one month later had been partly attributed to this mistaken sense of security.[16] The value of the outer space survey of earth was a defining step in the development of the Soyuz program's grand strategy: the later evolution of space-based research platforms have roots in Beregovoy's lengthy and meticulous data-collection.[17] Even the failure of the space docking proved an experiential benefit to the Soviet space program: after the demoralizing catastrophe of Soyuz 1, the credible achievements and safe return of Soyuz 3 breathed new life into the faltering program. New flights continued apace, and they put the knowledge gained from Soyuz 3 towards missions of increasing audacity and success.[18]
International Space Station, Soviet Union, Human spaceflight, Space Shuttle, Zond program
Venus, Mars, Soyuz programme, Moon, Zond 8
Soyuz programme, Zond program, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Spacecraft, Soyuz 3
Russia, United States, Kazakhstan, Russian Federal Space Agency, France
Zond program, Soyuz 7K-L1, 1968 In Spaceflight, Cosmic ray, Micrometeoroid
Soyuz programme, Zond program, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Soyuz 7K-OK, Soyuz 3
Russian language, Soyuz 3, Soyuz programme, Zond program, Soyuz (spacecraft)
Soyuz programme, Soyuz 5, Zond program, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Soyuz 7K-OK
Soyuz programme, Zond program, Soyuz 1, Soyuz 2, Soyuz 3