Soviet Space Stations
     
      The Soviet Union launched the first space station, Salyut 1, in April 1971. It was cylindrical, with a length of 12 m and a maximum diameter of 4.1 m. It was first docked by the three crews from Soyuz 11. They stayed on board for 24 days. A large number of Earth-resources and biological experiments were conducted. During the return journey to Earth, however, tragedy struck, and upon landing the three cosmonauts¡ªGeorgi T. Dobrovolsky, Vladislav N. Volkov, and Viktor I. Patsayev¡ªwere found dead, victims of an air leak in a valve. Because they wore no space suits, the cosmonauts had been killed quickly. The Soviet programme suffered another setback. The Salyut 2 space station was launched in April 1973, but apparently went out of control, shedding various parts in orbit.
Thereafter, however, the Soviet Union sent up Salyut 3 (June 1974-January 1975), 4 (December 1974-February 1977), and 5 (June 1976-August 1977). Salyut 6 (September 1977-July 1982) and 7 (April 1982-?, shown above) were visited by a large number of international crews, including Cuban, French, and Indian cosmonauts and the first woman to perform extravehicular activity, Svetlana Savitskaya, during the flight of Soyuz T12 on July 17-29, 1984. One of the most notable flights of the Salyut/Soyuz series occurred in 1984 when cosmonauts Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov, and Oleg Atkov, spent 237 days aboard the Salyut 7 before returning to Earth, the longest space flight to that date. Salyut 7, now abandoned, remains in orbit.
      The Mir, a Soviet space station designed to be an improved successor of the Salyut series, was launched into orbit on February 19, 1986. It is the first permanently staffed space station, featuring six docking ports. In 1987, Colonel Yuri Romanenko spent 326 days aboard Mir, the longest space flight then on record. On April 12, 1987, the Soviets succeeded in docking Mir with Kvant, an 18,000-kg (40,000-lb) astrophysics module. Carrying four X-ray telescopes, the Kvant was designed to link with Mir and observe the supernova that had recently exploded in a nearby galaxy. In 1987-1988, Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov set a new record for time spent in space¡ª366 days. Following a series of technical accidents, and given the growing expense of maintaining the space station, it was finally decided to abandon the project. The last Mir crew, including Sergei Avdeyev, who had set the latest record for time in space, at 742 days, returned to Earth on August 28, 1999. Russian efforts would thereafter focus on the International Space Station currently being built in space.
     The American space shuttle Atlantis undocked from Russia¡¯s Mir space station on July 4, 1995 after completing the first joint space mission between the two spacecraft. The mission also marked the 100th American piloted space flight.