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| A Soyuz 14 launch cover, postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on July 3, 1974, signed by Pavel Popovich and Yuri Artyukhin. |
Soyuz 14, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 3, 1974, was a major Soviet crewed-spaceflight milestone: it carried Pavel Popovich and Yuri Artyukhin to the newly launched Salyut 3 space station and became the first successful Soviet crewed mission to occupy that station. Popovich was already an experienced cosmonaut, having flown Vostok 4 in 1962. Artyukhin was making his first spaceflight.
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| A cover featuring Soyuz 14 docking with the space station Salyut 3, postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on July 4, 1974, signed by Pavel Popovich and Yuri Artyukhin. |
The destination was Salyut 3, launched only nine days earlier, on June 25, 1974. Soyuz 14 initially encountered some difficulty during the rendezvous because the crew had trouble using the spacecraft's optical sighting device. Nevertheless, the spacecraft successfully approached the station and docked on July 5. Popovich and Artyukhin then transferred into Salyut 3, where they spent the majority of their mission. The mission wasn't simply a transportation flight to a space station. It was an extensive test of the station, its equipment, and the ability of a crew to live and work there.
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| A Soyuz 14 First Day Cover from "KNIGA", postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on October 18, 1974, signed by Pavel Popovich and Yuri Artyukhin. |
After more than two weeks aboard Salyut 3, the crew departed the station and returned to Earth on July 19, 1974. Soyuz 14 landed in Kazakhstan, approximately 140 km southeast of Dzhezkazgan. Total mission duration was 15 days 17 hours 30 minutes, with about 252 orbits according to mission records.
