Soyuz 4 and 5 KNIGA cover signed by the crew. The stamps were issued and cancelled on January 22, 1969. |
The Space Race was a technological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in demonstrating superiority in aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites launches, robotic space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately landing on the Moon. This blog features my collection of US and Soviet Union space events on covers and press photos.
1969-01-14 USSR Soyuz 4 and 5
Soyuz 4 was launched on January 14, 1969, carrying cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov on his first flight. The aim of the mission was to dock with Soyuz 5 (which was launched a day later), transfer two crew members from that spacecraft, and return to Earth. Soyuz 5 was piloted by commander Boris Volynov and carried flight engineers Aleksei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov as the crew to be transferred to Soyuz 4 for reentry. The mission plan contained scientific, technical, and medical-biological research, testing of spacecraft systems and design elements, docking of piloted spacecraft, and transfer of cosmonauts from one craft to another in orbit.
(Reference from Soyuz 5)