Soyuz 3

Soyuz 3 was the Soviet Union's October 1968 return to crewed Soyuz flight after the Soyuz 1 accident. Georgy Beregovoy launched alone from Baikonur Site 31/6 on a Soyuz rocket in a Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft, with the uncrewed Soyuz 2 serving as the rendezvous and docking target. Beregovoy closed to very short range, but the planned docking was abandoned after repeated manual attempts consumed too much maneuvering propellant. The mission still completed several days of Soyuz spacecraft systems testing, observations, and television demonstrations before landing near Karaganda on October 30, 1968. NASA later described the flight as a visible Soviet return to crewed space operations during the late lunar-race period.