Between Two Soyuz Craft: The January 1969 Transfer

Transcript

On January sixteenth, nineteen sixty-nine, Yevgeni Khrunov and Alexei Yeliseyev crossed from Soyuz Five to Soyuz Four during a spacewalk. The spacecraft had docked to demonstrate movement between vehicles in orbit, and the mission also rehearsed elements of the Soviet piloted lunar plan. Together, their coupling and electrical connections were described as an experimental four-compartment space station. In Soyuz Five’s orbital module, the section used for work apart from the crew’s return capsule, both men put on Yastreb suits. Commander Boris Volynov checked their life-support and communications systems, then returned to the descent module, sealed the hatch, and removed the air from the orbital module. Khrunov went out first and crossed to Soyuz Four’s orbital module while the craft were out of radio contact over South America. Yeliseyev followed while they were over the Soviet Union. They closed the hatch; Soyuz Four’s commander, Vladimir Shatalov, repressurized the module and helped them out of their suits. The two brought newspapers, letters, and telegrams printed after Shatalov’s launch as evidence of the transfer. The chronology gives no separate duration for the spacewalk. The spacecraft separated after being together for four hours and thirty-five minutes.