The Astounding Journey of Soyuz T-15
For a short period of time, in 1986, the Soviet Union had two space stations. The older Salyut-7 station was nearing retirement, to be replaced by the new Mir station.
The Soviets were anxious to put a crew aboard Mir…but they weren’t yet done with Salyut-7. So mission planners came up with an ambitious idea.
The Mission
Cosmonauts Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov would fly Soyuz T-15 to Mir and work there for about 3 months. Then, they would fly to Salyut-7, and work there for about 50 days. Incredibly, they would then fly back to Mir and then return to earth.
Tricky Maneuvers
These were tricky maneuvers. To make it work, the Soviets altered to orbit of Mir, using the propulsion systems from two unmanned supply ships (called Progress 25 and Progress 26).
Never before or since has a crew flown between space stations even once. And this crew actually made a round-trip between the two!
Currently such a thing would be impossible—there’s only one space station orbiting the planet.
