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Salyut 1 (DOS-1) (Salute 1) was the first space station of any kind, launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971.

The first crew launched later in the Soyuz 10 mission, on April 22, 1971, but they ran into troubles while docking and were unable to enter the station; the Soyuz 10 mission was aborted and the crew returned safely to Earth. Its second crew launched in Soyuz 11 and remained o nboard for 23 days. This was the first time in the history of spaceflight that a space station had been manned, and a new record in time spent in space.

The Soyuz 11 (Soyuz 7K-OKS) spacecraft was launched on June 7, 1971, 07:55:09 UTC from Baikonur Cosmodrome in central Kazakh SSR.T he Soyuz 11 crew members were Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev. he original prime crew for Soyuz 11 consisted of Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov and Pyotr Kolodin. A medical X-ray examination four days before launch suggested that Kubasov might have tuberculosis, and according to the mission rules, the prime crew was replaced with the backup crew. For Dobrovolski and Patsayev, this was to be their first space mission. The crew successfully docked with Salyut 1 on June 7 at 10:45 UTC and the cosmonauts remained on board for 22 days, with a mission duration of 23 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes, 43 seconds.

The cosmonauts conducted various experiments during their 22 days on the space station, and on June 29, prepared for return to Earth, loading scientific specimens, film, tapes, and other gear aboard Soyuz 11. The ships undocked at 21:28 UTC and retrofire occurred at 01:34 UTC on June 30. The normal routine of detaching the orbital module and service module was accomplished, and using its automatic systems, the ship oriented itself and steered to the intended recovery area. Radio communication with the crew came to an abrupt end at the moment of separating the work compartment, probably at 01:47 UTC, even before the normal ionospheric blackout period. The drogue and main parachute systems functioned nominally, and a landing was made at about 02:17 UTC on June 30.

It quickly became apparent that they had asphyxiated. The fault was traced to a breathing ventilation valve, located between the orbital module and the descent module, that had been jolted open as the descent module separated from the service module, 12m 3s seconds after retrofire. The valve opened at an altitude of 168 kilometres, and the gradual loss of pressure was fatal within seconds. Flight recorder data from the single cosmonaut outfitted with biomedical sensors showed cardiac arrest occurred within 40 seconds of pressure loss. By 15m 35s seconds after the retrofire, the cabin pressure was zero, and remained there until the capsule entered the Earth's atmosphere.

The cosmonauts were given a large state funeral and buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis at Red Square, Moscow near the remains of Yuri Gagarin. US astronaut Tom Stafford was one of the pallbearers. They were also each posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal. Craters on the Moon were named after the three cosmonauts: Dobrovolskiy, Volkov, and Patsaev.

The Soyuz spacecraft was extensively redesigned after this incident to carry only two cosmonauts. The extra room meant that the crew could wear Sokol space suits during launch and landing. The Sokol was a lightweight pressure suit intended for emergency use; updated versions of the suit remain in use to the present day.

A Soyuz capsule would not hold three crew members again until the Soyuz-T redesign in 1980, which freed enough space for three people in lightweight pressure suits to travel in the capsule.

Salyut 1 was moved to a higher orbit in July-August 1971 to ensure that it would not be destroyed prematurely through orbital decay. By September, Salyut 1 was running low on attitude control gas. It was decided to conclude the station's mission and on October 11, the main engines were fired for a deorbit maneuver. After 175 days, the world's first space station burned up over the Pacific Ocean.

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