Unsurprisingly, it was the Russians, a great bunch of lads, who were the first to head up to set up manned stations in space
We all know about the Mir space station, and thanks to the tweets and pictures sent down to us from Commander Chris Hadfield, we’re all now very much aware of the International Space Station, but do you remember the great work done by the guys on the Salyut space station programme? We didn’t either if we’re honest.
The Salyut programme started back in 1971, when the USSR decided it was time for a few of their citizens to be launched into space and stay there….for a while at least.
They launched the first space station in April of that year, and sent a crew up to get on board, where, after one failed attempt at docking, they were able to get about three weeks’ scientific work done.
With what they learned, they decided to try to build on and improve what they’d made, and although they didn’t quite get the hang of it with the next few launches thanks to various different problems, on St. Stephen’s Day 1974 they launched another successful station into orbit, the Salyut 4.
This time, crews boarded successfully, stayed on board for over 60 days, and the USSR got some great info to keep developing the program, and like with all technology, they were able to move to next-gen stuff and have much longer and more impressive stints in the cosmos.
The Salyut 6 & 7 were big successes, and much more advanced than the first launch just six years earlier. They broke all records for lengthy stays in space, with one crew sticking it out for a full 96 days, at which point we reckon you’d be gumming to get back to Earth so you can go to the toilet without floating away at least.
In fact, the Salyut broke a huge amount of spaceflight records, including ones for walking in space, length of stay in space and being the first stations to have a successful hand over from one crew to another, which is all hugely impressive.
When the programme eventually ended in 1991, they had moved from the most basic of space stations to hugely advanced ones which could support crews for months on end, even years, and both the Mir and the International Space Station have been based more or less on the initial designs of the Salyut. Obviously they have a bit more technology up there now though, and Twitter too, which is hugely important.
Not impressed by the work of all the lads in the space station, or fancy yourself to be the new Commander Chris Hadfield? Well then it’s time for you to test your mettle and head up to space by going to lynxapollo.com and signing up for the space program.
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