Spacecrafts dockIn 1969, the first docking of two manned spacecraft took place between the Soviet Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5. The spacecraft formed what was termed “the world's first space station” with a crew of four aboard. They remained docked for four and a half hours—three orbits of the Earth. During that time, two cosmonauts “space walked” from Soyuz 4 to Soyuz 5, becoming the first spacefarers to return to Earth in a different spacecraft from the one in which they went into space. The docking manoeuvre had been practised twice before (in 1967 and 1968) when Soyuz craft had docked together under fully automatic control.[Image: Soyuz 4 from an on-board video camera on Soyuz 5.] |
