Salyut 6 EO-1
| Mission type | Salyut expedition |
|---|---|
| Mission duration | 96 days (launch to landing) |
| Expedition | |
| Space Station | Salyut 6 |
| Began | 10 December 1977 |
| Ended | 16 March 1978 |
| Arrived aboard | Soyuz 26 |
| Departed aboard | Soyuz 27 |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 2 |
| Members |
Yuri Romanenko Georgi Grechko |
| Callsign | Таймыр (Taymyr - "Taymyr Peninsula" |
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Long-term Salyut 6 expeditions
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Salyut 6 EO-1 was a Soviet long duration space expedition, the first to dock successfully with the space station Salyut 6. The two person crew stayed were in space for a record setting 96 days, from December 1977 to March 1978. The expedition was the start of what would be the semi-permanent occupation of space by the Soviets.
The expedition set several records and established several milestones, including the longest space flight to that time, the first docking of three spacecraft together, and the hosting of the first non-Soviet, non-American space-farer. Additionally, the mission saw the first spacewalk by the Soviets since 1969. An important modification from previous Salyut stations which made many of these feats possible was an extra docking port on Salyut 6, which allowed for re-supply missions, visiting crews and, potentially, crew rotations and permanent occupation.
The crew consisted of Yuri Romanenko and Georgi Grechko. Their call sign for the mission was Taymyr, after the Russian peninsula. The crew were launched aboard Soyuz 26, and are often referred to as the Soyuz 26 crew, even though they returned to earth aboard Soyuz 27, a few months after the Soyuz 26 spacecraft had been landed.
This was the first spaceflight of the mission's commander, Yuri Romanenko, and the second spaceflight of the flight engineer Georgi Grechko, who flew on the 29-day Soyuz 17 mission to Salyut 4. Soyuz 17, at the time, held the record for Soviet mission duration, and EO-1 would also break the mission duration record (surpassing USA's Skylab 4 mission, which lasted 84 days).
The backup crew for EO-1 was Vladimir Kovalyonok, who would have been Commander, and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov who would have been flight engineer. Kovalyonok and Ivanchenkov also served as the backup crew for the EP-1 mission in January 1978 to Salyut 6.
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