Conference 7.286::space

101.0. "SOYUZ T-14 Crew Returns" by PYRITE::WEAVER () Fri Nov 22 1985 14:36

Associated Press Thu 21-NOV-1985 11:14                          Soviets-Space

         Mission Cut Short Due to Cosmonaut's Illness

   MOSCOW (AP) - Three Soviet cosmonauts abandoned their orbiting
space laboratory and returned to Earth today in a space capsule
after one of them became ill and needed hospitalization, the
official news agency Tass reported.
   It was the first time the Soviet Union was known to have cut
short a space mission because of health problems during the flight.
   There had been no previous announcement that the three
cosmonauts had undocked their Soyuz T-14 capsule from the orbiting
Salyut-7 space laboratory.
   ``The cosmonauts' long flight aboard the orbiting complex was
terminated due to Vladimir Vasyutin's sickness and the need for
hospital treatment for him,'' Tass said.
   Vasyutin and the other two cosmonauts landed on steppeland in
Kazakhstan, where the Soviet cosmodrome is located, Tass said.
   The agency did not say what was wrong with Vasyutin. Tass said
the other two cosmonauts, Viktor Savinykh and Alexander Volkov,
``are feeling well.''
   Savinykh went into space aboard the Soyuz T-13 space capsule on
June 6 with cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov on a mission to rescue
the drifting Salyut-7 laboratory, which had broken down late last
year.
   Vasyutin, Volkov and Georgy Grechko were launched Sept. 17
aboard the Soyuz T-14 capsule, and worked jointly with Dzhanibekov
and Savinykh for a week.
   Dzhanibekov and Grechko returned to Earth aboard Soyuz T-13 on
Sept. 25.
   The only other details provided by Tass were that ``during their
two-month flight the crew carried out a large amount of work to
study the Earth's surface and atmosphere, astrophysical,
technological and technical experiments and medical-biological
studies.''
   Tass concluded its brief report by noting that Salyut-7 ``is
continuing its flight in an unmanned mode.''
   The batteries aboard the Salyut-7 space laboratory broke down in
1984, leaving the unmanned laboratory drifting in space without
power until Soviet officials launched Savinykh and Dzhanibekov on a
repair mission.
   In October 1983, the station suffered a fuel leak while two
cosmonauts were aboard. Soviet officials confirmed the leak, but
denied it was as serious as had been reported in the West.
   In 24 years of Soviets manned space flight, four cosmonauts are
known to have been killed. Rockets have exploded on the launch pad
and at least five orbital docking attempts have failed.
   Soviet sources have said that in September 1983, three
cosmonauts narrowly escaped death when a rocket exploded on a
Central Asian launch pad.