CCCP

This astronaut crossed the Kármán Line (100 km), the internationally accepted boundary of space.

Crossed Kármán Line

Soyuz 19 (Apollo-Soyuz Test Project)

The historic meeting of the Soviet Union and the U.S. in space -- a major symbol of détente in the Cold War. The peaceful rendezvous and joint operations of a Soviet and American crew signaled the first part of a still-active cooperation and collaboration between the two world powers in space. The Soyuz part of the mission launched first and was met in orbit by the Apollo craft, which carried the main docking adaptor to allow the craft to link up with each other. The joint mission included the world-famous Soviet-American handshake in space and marked the end of the Space Race. The two countries would now solely focus on developing new scientific research capabilities in space while learning how to regularly travel to, live, and work in microgravity. Twenty-years later, post-Soviet Russia and the U.S. would come together once more to form the backbone of the International Space Station.

Soyuz is a human-carrying capsule built and operated by Russia, capable of transporting up to three people to the Space Station at a time. It has been upgraded numerous times since its first use in the 1960s for the Soviet lunar program and was the only crewed vehicle for the Station from 2011 to 2020.

Soyuz

Voskhod 2

The first-ever spacewalk was performed on this mission, which was beset with difficulties. Alexei Leonov began the spacewalk an hour and a half after launch. The 12-minute event nearly ended in disaster when Leonov's suit swelled and became rigid, preventing him from being able to get back into the capsule's inflatable airlock. He had to depressurize his suit below safety levels to get it bendable enough to get back inside. Once in, he had trouble closing and sealing the hatch. The suits the crew wore were so bulky they couldn't maneuver quickly enough while preparing to come home; they started the deorbit burn 46 seconds late. A failure of the crew module to separate from the service module combined with the late deorbit caused the mission to land 386 km from its planned site. The crew could not be located immediately and mission control was uncertain if they were alive or dead. They were eventually found in a heavily wooded area surrounded by impassable snow. Clothes and supplies were airdropped so they could survive the night in -5°C temperatures before rescue crews arrived the next day. This was largely seen as the final flight in which the Soviet Union led the Space Race.

Voskhod was the second Soviet human space program. It used a modified Vostok spacecraft to allow two or three people to fly at the same time. However, the design proved largely unusable, and the program was canceled after just five months and two missions.

Voskhod

Alexei Leonov

USSR

Pavel Belyayev

Soyuz 6

Soyuz 6 was the first of a three-flight mission with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8. The main goal of Soyuz 6 was to demonstrate welding capabilities in space and film the docking of Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8. The docking systems on all three Soyuz failed, preventing the main point of the three flight joint mission. During welding demonstrations, the crew nearly killed themselves by accidentally cutting into and nearly through the hull of Soyuz.

Soyuz 36

Soyuz 36 was a visitation and Soyuz vehicle swap mission to the fourth long duration crew on the Salyut 6 space station. It marked the first time a Hungarian flew to space.

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