Soyuz T-12
| COSPAR ID | 1984-073A |
|---|---|
| Mission duration | 11 days, 19 hours, 14 minutes, 36 seconds |
| Orbits completed | 186 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz-T |
| Manufacturer | NPO Energia |
| Launch mass | 7,020 kilograms (15,480 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 |
| Members |
Vladimir Dzhanibekov Svetlana Savitskaya Igor Volk |
| Callsign | Pamir (Pamir Mountains) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | July 17, 1984, 17:40:54 UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz-U2 |
| Launch site | Baikonur 31/6 |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | July 29, 1984, 12:55:30 UTC |
| Landing site | 140 kilometres (87 mi) SE of Dzhezkazgan |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee | 192 kilometres (119 mi) |
| Apogee | 218 kilometres (135 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Period | 88.6 minutes |
| Docking with Salyut 7 | |
 Soyuz T-12 with spacewalk
Soyuz programme
(Manned missions) |
|
Soyuz T-12 (also known as Salyut 7 EP-4) was the seventh manned spaceflight to the Soviet space station Salyut 7. The name "Soyuz T-12" is also the name of the spacecraft used to launch and land the mission's three-person crew. The mission occurred in July 1984, during the long-duration expedition Salyut 7 EO-3. During the mission, crew member Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to ever perform a spacewalk, and the potential Buran Space shuttle pilot, Igor Volk, was given spaceflight experience. Unlike many Soyuz visiting missions, the Soyuz lifeboats were not swapped, and the crew returned to Earth in the same spacecraft in which they launched.
Igor Volk was a test pilot, and was planned to be the commander of the first Buran spaceflight. The rule introduced following the Soyuz 25 failure, insisted that all Soviet spaceflight must have at least one crew member who has been to space before. As a result, it was decided that Volk should have spaceflight experience, and he was originally scheduled to visit Salyut 7 in 1983. But following the failure of Soyuz T-8 to dock to Salyut 7, in April 1983, the Soyuz launch schedule was disrupted, and Volk's original crew members, Kizim and Solovyov, were rescheduled elsewhere. They later became long-duration crew members of Salyut 7 EO-3, and Volk was scheduled fly in the passenger seat of a visiting mission Soyuz T-12 to the EO-3 crew, but the other members of the T-12 mission were not yet decided upon.
In November 1983, NASA announced that during STS-41-G, Kathryn D. Sullivan would become the first woman to perform a spacewalk. The NPO Energia chief decided that the Soviets would get there first, and assembled the Soyuz T-12 crew within a month of NASA's announcement, which included Volk as previously planned.
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