CCCP

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

Crossed Kármán Line

Soyuz 23

Soyuz 23 was an attempted mission to the Salyut 5 space station. The automatic docking system malfunctioned and forced the mission to be called off and return to Earth after just two days. The Soyuz landed in a lake, marking the first Soviet water landing, and was dragged underwater by its parachute. Rescue teams tried to reach the crew but the blizzard and night conditions forced a delay until morning. After nine hours, the capsule was dragged out of the water. Recovery teams believed the crew were dead and called for a medical team to remove the bodies. After two more hours, the crew opened the hatch themselves and climbed out.

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.

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