The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1, the first space station
The world's first orbiting station ends in tragedy when its returning crew dies on reentry
Quick facts
- Agency
- USSR
- Launch date
- 19 April 1971
- Crew lost
- Dobrovolski, Volkov, Patsayev (Soyuz 11)
- Deorbited
- 11 October 1971
What happened
On 19 April 1971, the Soviet Union launched Salyut 1, the world's first space station, beating the American Skylab into orbit by roughly two years. The Soyuz 10 crew attempted to dock with the station but could not achieve a hard dock and had to abort. The Soyuz 11 crew, cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev, successfully docked and spent a record-setting 24 days aboard Salyut 1 conducting experiments. On their return to Earth, however, a valve on their Soyuz capsule opened prematurely during separation, causing the cabin to depressurize; all three cosmonauts died before the capsule reached the ground. Following the tragedy, Salyut 1's mission was terminated and the station was deliberately deorbited, burning up on 11 October 1971.
Why it matters
Salyut 1 proved that a habitable orbiting laboratory was possible and set the template the Soviet Union, and later Russia, would follow through six further Salyut stations and eventually Mir. The Soyuz 11 deaths, the only fatalities to occur in space itself rather than during launch or reentry preparation, forced a redesign of Soyuz capsules to carry pressure suits for the rest of the program's history.
How we know
NASA's own history office retrospective documents the launch date, the Soyuz 10 and 11 missions, and the cause of the crew's deaths; the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum account of early space stations corroborates the same launch date and mission count.
Sources
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The First Space Stations · Reputable sourceairandspace.si.edu · The domain "airandspace.si.edu" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- NASA History Office. 50 Years Ago: Launch of Salyut, the World's First Space Station · Primary source (author-declared)nasa.gov · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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