Soyuz 18

USSR

International Flight nº: 56

Earth orbit Flight nº: 53

USSR launch Flight nº: 26

Launch & orbit data:

Designation	07818 / 75044A
Launch date - time	24 May 1975 - 14:58:10 UT
Launch site	Baikonur, LC1
Launch vehicle	Soyuz 11A511
OKB name - S/N°	Soyuz 7K-T s/n 40
Basic shape	Sphere-cylinder + 2 wings
Dimension (m)	7.5 long, 2.2 dia
Mass (kg)	6570? kg
Flight Crew (EO-2)	Klimuk, Pyotr I. (CDR) Sevastyanov, Vitaly I. (FE)
Call Sign	Kavkaz 5Caucasus M.)
Backup crew	Kovalyonok, Lebedov
Earth orbit on May 24.7:
- Perigee / Apogee	186 x 230 km
- Eccentricity	0.003
- Inclination	51.69°
- Period	88.60 min

Docking & landing data:

Docking date - time	25 May 1975 - 18:28 UT
Target spacecraft	Salyut 4
Docking orbit on May 26.3:
- Perigee / Apogee	338 x 349 km
- Eccentricity	0.001
- Inclination	51.59°
- Period	91.34 min
Undocking date - time	26 Jul 1975 - 11:03 UT
Deorbit burn date - time
Landing date - time	26 Jul 1975 - 14:18:18 UT
Landing location	51°N, 68°E 56km NE of Arkalyk
Flight Duration (d:hr:min)	62d 23h 20m 08s (62.97 days)
Nbr orbits	993

Record flight of 1511h 20m.

Flight Crew

Nr.	Surname	Given name	Job	Duration	Orbits
1	Klimuk	Pyotr Iliyich	Commander	62d 23h 20m	993
2	Sevastiyanov	Vitali Ivanovich	Flight engineer	62d 23h 20m	993

Mission details:

On May 24, 1975, launch of the Soyuz-18 transport manned spacecraft with the crew of the second expedition to the Salyut-4 long-term orbital station (DOS), created in 1972-1973 under the lead the role of RSC Energia named after S.P. Queen.
On May 26, 1975, Soyuz-18, with cosmonauts Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov, docked at the Salyut-4 DOS. After the station was re-mothballed, the crew embarked on a scientific and technical program, including biomedical experiments to study the long-term effects of weightlessness on humans, astrophysical studies of the Sun in a wide electromagnetic range, Earth observations and registration of atmospheric phenomena such as northern lights and silver clouds. A complex of technological tests of office equipment and promising life support systems for the next-generation manned vehicles was also carried out on board the DOS.
The successful solution of planned tasks, the astronauts′ well-being and sufficient station resources allowed the ground-based Mission Control Center to significantly increase the duration of the expedition, originally designed for 28 days. During the 63-day orbit, Peter Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov exceeded the extensive research program and returned to Earth on July 26, 1975. The second expedition completed the manned operation of the DOS "Salyut-4", which continued to fly in automatic mode until February 3, 1977, and then was steered out of orbit.
Second crew of spacestation Salyut 4; 62 days staying time; intensive fitnesstraining; breeding of "space vegetable"; solar observation; taking photographs of Earth surface.

Klimuk and Sevastyanov

Astrophilately covers:

As preparation for the Apollo-Soyuz flight, the name and position of the cosmodrome Baikonur was be released, and a new cancel “Kosmodrom Baikonur“ became operated from 27-4-1975. Signed by L. Demin.

Landing cancel Arkalyk, signed by crew.

Ref.: #1,#2, #4, #7, #8, #16, #125, #206, #210, #322 - update: 10.06.20

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