Soyuz T-8

Soyuz T-8 launched from Baikonur Site 1/5 on April 20, 1983, with Vladimir Titov, Gennadi Strekalov, and Aleksandr Serebrov. The mission was intended as a Salyut 7 repair visit, with Spacefacts identifying the crew's main objective as work on the station's faulty solar array. The flight did not reach the station. After launch, the Soyuz rendezvous radar antenna boom failed to deploy properly, and the crew could not complete a safe automatic or manual approach to Salyut 7. Titov aborted the final rendezvous attempt when the closing conditions looked unsafe, and the failed attempts consumed enough propellant that the crew had to prepare for an early return. Spacefacts lists Titov as commander, Strekalov as flight engineer, and Serebrov as research cosmonaut. Soyuz T-8 landed northeast of Arkalyk on April 22, 1983, after 2 days, 17 minutes, and 48 seconds in flight across 32 orbits. The unsuccessful docking was still an important operational episode in the Salyut 7 program because it showed how a small rendezvous-system failure could force cancellation of a crewed station repair mission.