Soyuz 13

Mission type	Astronomy
Operator	Soviet space program
COSPAR ID	1973-103A
SATCAT no.	06982
Mission duration	7 days 20 hours 55 minutes 35 seconds
Orbits completed	127
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz 7K-T No.2
Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-T
Manufacturer	Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1)
Launch mass	6570 kg [1]
Landing mass	1200 kg
Crew
Crew size	2
Members	Pyotr Klimuk Valentin Lebedev
Callsign	Кавказ (Kavkaz - "Caucasus")
Start of mission
Launch date	18 December 1973, 11:55:00 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 1/5[2]
End of mission
Landing date	26 December 1973, 08:50:35 UTC
Landing site	200 km at the southwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit[3]
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	225.0 km
Apogee altitude	272.0 km
Inclination	51.60°
Period	89.20 minutes
Vimpel Diamond for entrainment patch a post stamp depicting the crew Soyuz programme ← Soyuz 12 Soyuz 14 →

Soyuz 13 (Russian: Союз 13, Union 13) was a December, 1973, Soviet crewed space flight, the second test flight of the redesigned Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft that first flew as Soyuz 12. The spacecraft was specially modified to carry the Orion 2 Space Observatory. The flight, crewed by Pyotr Klimuk and Valentin Lebedev, was the Soviet Union's first dedicated science mission,^[4] and was the first mission controlled by the new Kaliningrad Mission Control Center.^[5]

Crew

Backup crew

Reserve crew

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6,570 kg (14,480 lb) ^[1]
• Perigee: 225.0 km (139.8 mi) ^[3]
• Apogee: 272.0 km (169.0 mi)
• Inclination: 51.60°
• Period: 89.20 minutes

Mission highlights

Launched 18 December 1973, the Soyuz 13 crew of Klimuk and Lebedev performed some of the experiments intended for the failed Salyut space stations from the previous year.^[5] Unlike Soyuz 12, the craft was equipped with solar panels to allow for an extended mission. Additionally, an orbital module was attached replacing unneeded docking equipment. This module included the Orion 2 Space Observatory (see below).^[5]

The crew used a multispectral camera to measure the atmosphere and pollution.^[5] They also tested the Oasis 2 closed ecology system, and harvested protein, yielding 30 times the original biomass. Medical tests were also carried out, including experiments to measure blood flow to the brain.^[5]

The crew landed in a heavy snowstorm on 26 December 1973, but were recovered a few minutes later, some 200 km at southwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan.^[5]

During its 8-day mission, Soyuz 13 was in orbit around the Earth at the same time as the U.S. Skylab 4 mission, which had been launched on November 16, and which would remain in orbit until February 8, marking the first time that both the United States and the Soviet Union had crewed missions operating simultaneously. ^[6]

Orion 2 Space Observatory

The Orion 2 Space Observatory, designed by Grigor Gurzadyan, was operated by crew member Lebedev. Ultraviolet spectrograms of thousands of stars to as faint as 13th magnitude were obtained by a wide-angle meniscus telescope of the Cassegrain system, with an aperture diameter of 240 mm, an equivalent focal length of 1000 mm, and a 4-grade quartz prism objective. The dispersion of the spectrograph was 17, 28 and 55 nm/mm, at wavelengths of 200, 250 and 300 nm respectively. The first satellite Ultraviolet spectrogram of a planetary nebula (IC 2149 in Auriga) was obtained, revealing lines of aluminium and titanium - elements not previously observed in objects of that type. Two-photon emission in that planetary nebula and a remarkable star cluster in Auriga were also discovered. Additionally, comet Kohoutek was observed.^[5]