Soyuz 9

Soyuz 9 paved the way for the Salyut space station missions, investigating the

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effects of long-term weightlessness on crew, and evaluating the work that the cosmonauts

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could do in orbit, individually and as a team.

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Commander Andrian Nikolayev and flight-engineer Vitali Sevastyanov spent eighteen days in space conducting various

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physiological and biomedical experiments on themselves, but also investigating the social

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implications of prolonged spaceflight. The cosmonauts spent time in two-way TV links with their

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families, watched the World Cup football game, played chess with ground control, and voted

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in a Soviet election. The mission set a new space endurance record and marked a shift in

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emphasis away from spacefarers merely being able to exist in space for the duration of a long

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mission (such as the Apollo flights to the moon) and being able to actually live in space.

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On their return to Earth, the crew was found to have weakened considerably, and it took some

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ten days for them to regain their strength. In orbit, they had sacrificed some of their

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exercise time for the sake of carrying out their scientific work, and their bodies' reactions to

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the prolonged weightlessness emphasised the importance of maintaining regular exercise.

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Salyut: The Salyut (Russian: ?????, Salute or Firework) program was a series of space stations launched by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The Salyuts were all relatively simple structures consisting of a single main module placed into orbit in a single launch. The program was originally designated the DOS 7...

Space station: A space station is an artificial structure designed for humans to live on in outer space. A space station is distinguished from other manned spacecraft by its lack of major propulsion or landing facilities — instead, other vehicles are used as transport to and from the station. Space stations...

Weightlessness: Weightlessness is the experience (by people and objects) during freefall, of having no apparent weight. This condition is also known as microgravity (see below)....