Soyuz 36 and Soyuz 35

1971-1975/1976-1980

II. THE SOYUZ PROGRAM

Soviet Manned Space Programs: 1957-80

MANNED MISSIONS TO SALYUT 6: 1977-80

SOYUZ 36/35: FIRST HUNGARIAN COSMONAUT

Soyuz 36 (Orion) was the first ship to visit the Soyuz 35 crew aboard Salyut 6. Launched at 1821 GMT on May 26, 1980, it carried Valeriy Kubasov of the Soviet Union and Bertalan Farkas of Hungary. The ship docked with Salyut 6 at 1926 GMT on May 27.

The two crews conducted 21 experiments, many of which were jointly developed by Hungarians and Soviet scientists. These included the "Eotvos"183 experiments with Kristall for growing monocrystals of gallium arsenide alloyed with chromium, an exper iment using Splav for alloying aluminum and copper called "Bealuca," two experiments involving atmospheric observations (Refraction and Zarya), biomedical/psychological experiments including "Capacity for Work" and "Audio," and Earth observations in general over Hungary. Most of the passes over Hungary were at night, but Farkas said that he could easily see the lights of Budapest, and on the few day passes they had, he could see the Danube, Tisza, and Carpathians. A total of 40 visual observation and Earth surface photography sessions were held.

Farkas took his daughter's favorite toy rabbit along with him as a reminder "of what he treasures most in life."(184) Although he had a minor hot flush in the head about 1.5 to 2 hours after launch, he said he did not experience any of the disorders of sensation or orientation that had occurred with others, and that he personally had found the return to Earth to be the most difficult period. He lost 3 kg during the flight. Farkas also reported that during the mission, Ryumin's diary from his first long duration mission was published in Hungary in the form of a "minibook," which had pleased his space companion.

Farkas and Kubasov returned to Earth in the Soyuz 35 space-craft, leaving their fresh Soyuz 37 for the long duration crew. They landed 140 km southeast of Dzhezkazgan at 1507 GMT on June 3 after 8 days (188 hours, 46 minutes) in space. The Soyuz 35 ship had been in space for 55 days.

References:

A. SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMS: 1976-80, (WITH SUPPLEMENTARY DATA THROUGH 1983) MANNED SPACE PROGRAMS AND SPACE LIFE SCIENCES PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF HON. BOB PACKWOOD, Chairman, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE, Part 2, OCTOBER 1984, Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C., 1984

183. Named after the 19th century Hungarian physicist.

184. Tass, 1412 GMT, June 12, 1980.