January 1981:milestones

September 1980

4 Orbit of Salyut 6 raised from 323 x 338 km. 91.08 minutes to 337 x 350 km, 91.34 minutes prior to the launch of Soyuz 38, using the Soyuz 37 engine.

8 Radio Moscow announces that Salyut 6 has been elevated to a higher orbit using the Progress 11 engine. Western observers actually detect an overall lowering of Salyut's orbit with perigee being reduced by 7 km. The change is more likely to have been due to a test of Soyuz 37’s engine prior to its recovery with Popov and Ryumin aboard.

9 Cosmonauts Popov and Ryumin, having been in orbit over five months, begin a new series of experiments with the BST-1M submillimetre telescope which has a 4.9 ft (1.5 m) mirror, bigger than many ground-based telescopes. It is being used “to study the Earth's atmosphere, particularly the extent of pollution.”

16 Minor orbital manoeuvre by Salyut from 333 x345 km, 91.25 minutes to 335 x 352 km, 91.34 minutes to ensure ideal conditions for rendezvous with the upcoming Soyuz 38.

18 NASA announces that a Landsat ground station is to be established at Hartebeesthoek, near Johannesburg, South Africa “to receive, process, archive and disseminate Landsat data.”

18 Soviets launch Soyuz 38 from Baikonur at 22 hr 11 min Moscow time with cosmonaut Lt-Col Yuri Romanenko and Lt-Col Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez (Cuba). Married with two children, Mendez began training at the Cagarin Cosmonauts' Training Centre in March 1979. The Cuban reserve cosmonaut is José Armando.

19 Soyuz 38 docks with Salyut 6 space station to join resident crew of Lt-Col Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin who have been aboard since 10 April.

28 Soviets launch Progress 11 ferry with more oxygen, water, food and other supplies for Salyut 6.

29 Salyut 6 cosmonauts dock Progress 11 by remote control. Third anniversary of space station in Earth orbit.

31 NASA awards Boeing Aerospace $400,000 contract to study feasibility of building a space terminal 250 miles (400 km) above the Earth. The terminal, which could be used for refuelling space vehicles en route for geostationary orbit or deep space,would be assembled piece-by-piece from modules containing living quarters, service areas and warehouses. Study will last 12 months.

October 1980

1 Lt-Col Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin exceed the previous space endurance record of 175 days 36 minutes.

5 After spending 185 days in space, Lt-Col Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin soft-land in Soyuz 37 some 111 miles (180 km) SE of Dzhezkazgan at 12 hr 50 min MT. In three space missions Ryumin has spent nearly a year in orbital flight.

17 Tass reveals that Popov and Ryumin both grew 1.18-in (3.0 cm) during their record-breaking space flight. Doctors found their muscles and spinal tissue had stretched but, exposed to normal Earth gravity, they were gradually returning to their normal height.