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| A Soyuz 10 launch cover from "KNIGA", postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on April 23, 1971, signed by Vladimir Shatalov, Aleksei Yeliseyev, Nikolai Rukavishnikov. |
Soyuz 10 was the first crewed mission to attempt a rendezvous and docking with Salyut 1, the world's first space station. It launched from Baikonur on April 23, 1971, just four days after Salyut 1 itself had been placed into orbit. The crew consisted of Vladimir Shatalov, Aleksei Yeliseyev, and Nikolai Rukavishnikov.
On April 24, Soyuz 10 approached Salyut 1. The automatic rendezvous system brought the spacecraft close to the station, after which commander Shatalov manually took control and completed the docking maneuver. The two spacecraft were physically connected for about 5½ hours. However, the docking mechanism did not achieve the required hard docking. Because the connection was incomplete, the crew could not open the hatch and transfer from Soyuz 10 into Salyut 1. This meant that, although Soyuz 10 technically achieved a docking, it did not become the first crew to enter and live aboard a space station.
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| A Soyuz 10 docking with Salyut 1 cover from “KNIGA,” postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on April 24, 1971, signed by cosmonauts Vladimir Shatalov, Aleksei Yeliseyev, and Nikolai Rukavishnikov. |
The problem was particularly frustrating because Soyuz 10 had been intended to spend about a month aboard Salyut 1. With the crew unable to enter the station and their spacecraft's supplies limited, mission control decided to terminate the mission. Before leaving, the crew flew around Salyut 1 and photographed its docking area to help engineers determine what had gone wrong. They successfully returned to Earth on April 25, making the Soviet space program's first night landing.
