Salyut 1 was the first space station in history, launched by the Soviet Union into low Earth orbit. The first crew of Soyuz 10 was unable to enter the station because of a docking problem, but the crew of Soyuz 11, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev, boarded it and lived there for about three weeks, performing experiments and observations. They died on the return to Earth when a valve opened and the capsule lost pressure, and they remain the only people to have died in space. The station was left in orbit and later directed to burn up in the atmosphere. The programme of Salyut stations that followed paved the way for Mir and the International Space Station.
Before and after
- 30 March 1971Construction of Starbucks
- 31 March 1971Birth of Ewan McGregor
- 6 April 1971Death of Igor Stravinsky
- 14 April 1971Establishment of Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary
- 19 April 1971Launch of Salyut 1
- 19 May 1971Launch of Mars 2
- 25 May 1971Operation Searchlight
- 28 May 1971Birth of Marco Rubio
- 28 May 1971Launch of Mars 3
More in Universe & space
- 22 June 1978Discovery of Charon
- 20 January 1986Discovery of Ophelia
- 24 April 1990Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
- 1998Supernovae show that cosmic expansion is accelerating
- 20 November 1998Launch of International Space Station
- 10 April 2019The first image of a black hole
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.