Soyuz 8

Soyuz 8

Mission type	Test flight
Operator	Soviet space program
COSPAR ID	1969-087A
Mission duration	4 days, 22 hours, 50 minutes, 49 seconds
Orbits completed	80
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-OK(P)
Manufacturer	Experimental Design Bureau OKB-1
Launch mass	6,646 kilograms (14,652 lb)
Crew
Crew size	2
Members	Vladimir Shatalov Aleksei Yeliseyev
Callsign	Гранит (Granit - "Granite")
Start of mission
Launch date	13 October 1969, 10:19:09 (1969-10-13UTC10:19:09Z) UTC
Rocket	Soyuz
Launch site	Baikonur 31/6[1]
End of mission
Landing date	18 October 1969, 09:09:58 (1969-10-18UTC09:09:59Z) UTC
Landing site	51°N 72°E / 51°N 72°E / 51; 72
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	201 kilometres (125 mi)
Apogee	227 kilometres (141 mi)
Inclination	51.7 degrees
Period	88.7 minutes
Soyuz programme (Manned missions) ← Soyuz 7 Soyuz 9 →

Soyuz 8 (Russian: Союз 8, Union 8) was part of a joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 7 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts.

The crew consisted of commander Vladimir Shatalov and flight engineer Aleksei Yeliseyev, whose mission was to dock with Soyuz 7 and transfer crew, as the Soyuz 4 (involving, among others, these two cosmonauts) and Soyuz 5 missions did. Soyuz 6 was to film the operation from nearby.

However, this objective was not achieved due to equipment failures. Soviet sources were later to claim that no docking had been intended, but this seems unlikely, given the docking adapters carried by the spacecraft, and the fact that both Shatalov and Yeliseyev were veterans of the previous successful docking mission. This was the last time that the Soviet-crewed Moon landing hardware was tested in orbit, and the failure seems to have been one of the final nails in the coffin of the programme.

The radio call sign of the spacecraft was Granit, meaning Granite. This word is apparently used as the name of a reactive or defensive squadron in Soviet military training, and, just like the Soyuz 5, it was constructed and its crew was trained to be the responsive (not entirely passive) or female spacecraft in its docking. Giving military names to the spacecraft was probably a response to an appeal that the commander of the Soyuz 5 made. Further, the word was probably chosen as it begins with a letter following that sequence starting with Antey (meaning Antaeus) and Buran (meaning Blizzard); Г (G) is the fourth letter of the Russian alphabet.

Crew

Backup Crew

References

Soviet manned lunar programs
Launch vehicles and upper stages	N1 rocket Proton rocket Block D
Spacecraft	LK-1 VA spacecraft LK-700 Zond (Soyuz 7K-L1) Zond-M (Soyuz 7K-L1S) Zond-LOK (Soyuz 7K-L1E) LOK (Soyuz 7K-L3) LK (spacecraft)
Other hardware	Lunokhod-LK Krechet-94
Soyuz docking tests	Soyuz 1, Soyuz 2A Soyuz 2, Soyuz 3 Soyuz 4, Soyuz 5 Soyuz 6, Soyuz 7, Soyuz 8 Soyuz Kontakt 1, 2
Zond (7K-L1/L1S) lunar flyby missions	Kosmos 146 Kosmos 154 Zond 1967A Zond 1967B Zond 4 Zond 1968A Zond 1968B Zond 5 Zond 6 Zond 1969A Zond-M 1 (L1S 1) Zond-M 2 (L1S 2) Zond 7 Zond 8 Zond 9 Zond 10
LOK (7K-LOK/L1E) test missions	Kosmos 382 (Zond-LOK 2) Zond-LOK 1 LOK 1 LOK 2
LK Lander (T2K) test missions	Kosmos 379 Kosmos 382 Kosmos 398 Kosmos 434 LK 1

Soyuz human spaceflight programme
Main topics	Soyuz (rocket family) Soyuz (spacecraft) Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 Site 31/6 List of Soyuz missions List of Soviet manned space missions List of Russian manned space missions
Current missions	Soyuz MS-02 MS-03
Future missions	2017 Soyuz MS-04 MS-05 MS-06 MS-07 2018 Soyuz MS-08 MS-09 MS-10
Past missions (by spacecraft type)	Soyuz 7K-OK (1966–1970) Kosmos 133† Soyuz 7K-OK No.1† Kosmos 140 Soyuz 1† Kosmos 186 188 212 213 238 Soyuz 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Soyuz 7K-L1 (1967–1970) (Zond lunar programme) Kosmos 146 154† Zond 1967A† 1967B† Zond 4 1968A† 1968B† 5 6 1969A† Zond-M 1† M 2† Zond 7 8 9 10 Soyuz 7K-L1E (1969–1970) Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1† Kosmos 382 Soyuz 7K-LOK (1971–1972) Soyuz 7K-LOK No.1† No.2† Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971) Soyuz 10† 11† Soyuz 7K-T (1972–1981) Kosmos 496 573 Soyuz 12 Kosmos 613 Soyuz 13 Kosmos 656 Soyuz 14 15† 17 18a† 18 20 (uncrewed) 21 23† 24 25† 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 (uncrewed landing) 33† 34 (uncrewed launch) 35 36 37 38 39 40 Soyuz 7K-TM (1974–1976) Kosmos 638 672 Soyuz 16 19 (Apollo–Soyuz Test Project) 22 Soyuz 7K-S (1974–1976) Kosmos 670 772† 869† Soyuz-T (1978–1986) Kosmos 1001† 1074 Soyuz T-1 (uncrewed) T-2 T-3 T-4 T-5 T-6 T-7 T-8† T-9 T-10a† T-10 T-11 T-12 T-13 T-14 T-15 Soyuz-TM (1986–2002) Soyuz TM-1 (uncrewed) TM-2 TM-3 TM-4 TM-5 TM-6 TM-7 TM-8 TM-9 TM-10 TM-11 TM-12 TM-13 TM-14 TM-15 TM-16 TM-17 TM-18 TM-19 TM-20 TM-21 TM-22 TM-23 TM-24 TM-25 TM-26 TM-27 TM-28 TM-29 TM-30 TM-31 TM-32 TM-33 TM-34 Soyuz-TMA (2002–2012) Soyuz TMA-1 TMA-2 TMA-3 TMA-4 TMA-5 TMA-6 TMA-7 TMA-8 TMA-9 TMA-10 TMA-11 TMA-12 TMA-13 TMA-14 TMA-15 TMA-16 TMA-17 TMA-18 TMA-19 TMA-20 TMA-21 TMA-22 Soyuz-TMA-M (2010–2016) Soyuz TMA-01M TMA-02M TMA-03M TMA-04M TMA-05M TMA-06M TMA-07M TMA-08M TMA-09M TMA-10M TMA-11M TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M TMA-16M TMA-17M TMA-18M TMA-19M TMA-20M Soyuz MS (2016–present) Soyuz MS-01
Uncrewed missions are designated with Kosmos numbers; crewed missions get a Soyuz number. Failed missions are denoted with a † symbol. Cancelled missions are in italics.