April 25, 2024

On This Day in Space! Sept. 29, 1977: Soviet Union launches Salyut 6 space station

On Sept. 29, 1977, the Salyut 6 space station released into orbit. This was the eighth area station the Soviet Union launched under its Salyut program and the first second-generation Salyut spaceport station. Unlike its predecessors, Salyut 6 had the ability to accommodate long-duration crewed objectives. Over the course of its 5 years in operation, 16 cosmonaut crews went to the station. The longest anyone stayed there was 185 days. The area station deorbited in 1982 and burned up in Earths atmosphere.( Image credit: RKK Energia) Related: Catch up on our entire “On This Day In Space” series on YouTube with this playlist. On This Day in Space Archive! Still inadequate area? Dont forget to examine out our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week. Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..