science

Soyuz 12

Soyuz 12 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Soyuz 12 rather than just read about it. In short: Soyuz 12 (Russian: Союз 12, Union 12) was a September, 1973, crewed test flight by the Soviet Union of the newly redesigned Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft that was intended to provide greater crew safety in the wake of the Soyuz 11 tragedy. The flight marked the return of the Soviets to crewed space operations after the 1971 accident.

Key takeaways

Soyuz 12 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Soyuz 12 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soyuz 12 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Soyuz 12 (Russian: Союз 12, Union 12) was a September, 1973, crewed test flight by the Soviet Union of the newly redesigned Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft that was intended to provide greater crew safety in the wake of the Soyuz 11 tragedy. The flight marked the return of the Soviets to crewed space operations after the 1971 accident. The crew capacity of the capsule had been decreased from three to two cosmonauts to allow for pressure suits to be worn during launch, re-entry and docking. It was the first time pressure suits were used for reentry since the Voskhod 2 flight. Cosmonauts Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov spent two days in space testing the new craft.

Crew

Backup crew

Reserve crew

Mission parameters Mass: 6,570 kg (14,480 lb) Perigee: 194.0 km (120.5 mi) Apogee: 249.0 km (154.7 mi) Inclination: 51.6° Period: 88.6 minutes

Mission highlights As the first crewed test of the new version of the Soyuz ferry craft, Soyuz 12 was to have flown to a Salyut station. But the failures of Salyut 2 (4 April 1973) and Cosmos 557 (11 May 1973) in the months previous meant there was no station for the craft to dock to. The service module had no solar panels, carrying batteries for power instead, which limited the flight to about two days, enough time for a journey to and from a space station. Cosmonauts Lazarev and Makarov wore pressure suits for launch and landing, and would have worn them for a station docking, all changes brought about by the Soyuz 11 tragedy. The bulk of the suits and their environmental control systems limited the crew size to two. After the successful 27 September 1973 launch, the craft was maneuvered to a 326 x 344 km orbit on the second day in space, which later proved to be the standard orbit for the Salyut 4 space station. A multispectral camera in the orbital module was used in coordination with aircraft to photograph the Earth. It was reported that the intention of the camera was to survey crop and forest conditions The cosmonauts also utilised the Molniya 1 satellite to communicate with ground stations when out of range. The crew landed safely on 29 September 1973 and the mission was called "flawless". A large object was jettisoned when the craft was preparing for retrofire. The object remained in orbit for 116 days.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soyuz 12

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soyuz 12 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Soyuz 12 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Soyuz 12 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Soyuz 12

In research: Soyuz 12 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Soyuz 12 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Soyuz 12 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1973 in spaceflight, 1973 in the Soviet Union, Crewed Soyuz missions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Soyuz 12 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Soyuz 12 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soyuz 12 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Soyuz 12 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soyuz 12 in simple terms?

Why does Soyuz 12 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Soyuz 12?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Soyuz 12.