Salyut 6

DOS-5

Mission Profile

Salyut 6 (DOS-5) was the Soviet Union's fifth space station, launched on 29 September 1977 aboard a Proton-K and the first to feature two docking ports, enabling simultaneous docking of a resident crew's Soyuz and a Progress cargo vehicle or visiting crew. The two-port design allowed refueling of the station's propulsion system, permitting a much longer operational lifetime than previous Salyut stations — five years compared to a few months. Salyut 6 hosted 16 crews during its operational life including five long-duration resident crews, with cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Georgy Grechko setting a then-record 96-day mission in 1977-78. The station's operational success proved that long-duration human spaceflight was sustainable and established the operational model that continued through Mir and the ISS.