Soyuz 17

Soyuz 17 carried Aleksei Gubarev and Georgi Grechko to Salyut 4 for the station's first successful resident expedition. Spacefacts lists launch from Baikonur Site 1 on January 10, 1975, docking with Salyut 4 on January 12, undocking on February 9, and landing later that day after 29 days, 13 hours, 19 minutes, and 45 seconds in flight. The mission gave Salyut 4 a long operational checkout after the station's December 1974 launch. Gubarev and Grechko worked aboard the station for nearly a month, carrying out astronomy, biomedical, communications, and systems tasks while refining procedures for living and working inside an early Soviet orbital laboratory. Spacefacts notes that the crew addressed a solar-telescope pointing problem, used station communications equipment, and powered down the station before departure so later crews could continue the program. Soyuz 17 was Gubarev's first spaceflight and Grechko's first of three missions.