Soyuz 27

This article is about the Soyuz 27 spacecraft. For the crew launched in Soyuz 27, see Salyut 6 EP-1.

Soyuz 27 (Russian: Союз 27, Union 27) was a 1978 Soviet crewed spacecraft which flew to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, during the mission EP-1.^[2] It was the third crewed flight to the station, the second successful docking and the first visitation mission. Once docked, it marked the first time that three spacecraft were docked together.

Soyuz 27

Mission type	Crewed mission to Salyut 6
Operator	OKB-1
COSPAR ID	1978-003A
SATCAT no.	10560
Mission duration	65 days
Orbits completed	1025
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz s/n 44
Spacecraft type	Soyuz 7K-T
Manufacturer	NPO Energia
Launch mass	6800 kg
Crew
Crew size	2
Launching	Vladimir Dzhanibekov Oleg Makarov
Landing	Yuri Romanenko Georgy Grechko
Callsign	Памир Pamir Pamir Mountains
Start of mission
Launch date	10 January 1978, 12:26:00 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U s/n D15000-106
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 1/5[1]
Contractor	OKB-1
End of mission
Landing date	16 March 1978, 11:18:47 UTC
Landing site	310 km at west of Tselinograd
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	198.9 km
Apogee altitude	253.8 km
Inclination	51.65°
Period	88.73 minutes
Docking with Salyut 6
Docking date	11 January 1978, 14:05:54 UTC
Undocking date	16 March 1978, 07:58:00 UTC
Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) ← Soyuz 26 Soyuz 28 →

The main function of the EP-1 mission was to swap Soyuz craft with the orbiting crew, in so doing freeing a docking port for a forthcoming supply tanker. Cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Oleg Makarov returned to Earth in the Soyuz 26 spacecraft after spending five days on the station. The descent module is displayed at the Sergei Pavlovich Korolyov Museum of Cosmonautics in Zhytomyr, Ukraine.^[3]

Crew

Position	Launching Cosmonaut	Landing Cosmonaut
Commander	Vladimir Dzhanibekov EP-1 First spaceflight	Yuri Romanenko EO-1 First spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Oleg Makarov EP-1 Third spaceflight	Georgy Grechko EO-1 Second spaceflight

Backup crew

Position	Cosmonaut
Commander	Vladimir Kovalyonok
Flight Engineer	Aleksandr Ivanchenkov
The launching and landing crews had the same backups

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6,800 kilograms (15,000 lb)
• Perigee: 198.9 kilometres (123.6 mi)
• Apogee: 253.8 kilometres (157.7 mi)
• Inclination: 51.65°
• Period: 88.73 minutes