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| A Soyuz 17 First Day Cover from "KNIGA", postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on March 28, 1975, signed by Aleksei Gubarev and Georgy Grechko. |
Soyuz 17 was the first crewed expedition to the Soviet Salyut 4 space station. The spacecraft launched from Baikonur on January 10, 1975 UTC (January 11 Moscow time), carrying Aleksei Gubarev as commander and Georgy Grechko as flight engineer. The two men successfully docked with Salyut 4 on January 12. Salyut 4 had been launched on December 26, 1974, only a few weeks earlier. It was a second-generation Soviet space station with improved solar-power capabilities and was intended for extended scientific research in orbit.
Gubarev and Grechko remained aboard Salyut 4 for almost 30 days, from January 12 until February 9, 1975. Their mission lasted 29 days, 13 hours, 19 minutes, establishing a new Soviet human-spaceflight endurance record.
