science

Soyuz 14

Soyuz 14 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 14 rather than just read about it. In short: Soyuz 14 (Russian: Союз 14, Union 14) was a July, 1974, crewed spaceflight to the Salyut 3 space station. Soyuz 14 is also the name given to the Soyuz spacecraft which was used to bring the cosmonauts to and from the station.

Key takeaways

Soyuz 14 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 14 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soyuz 14 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Soyuz 14 (Russian: Союз 14, Union 14) was a July, 1974, crewed spaceflight to the Salyut 3 space station. Soyuz 14 is also the name given to the Soyuz spacecraft which was used to bring the cosmonauts to and from the station. The mission was part of the Soviet Union's Almaz program to evaluate the military applications of crew spaceflight. The mission's crew members were cosmonauts Pavel Popovich and Yuri Artyukhin. At the time, the military nature of this mission and the station itself were not acknowledged by Soviet authorities. The flight was the first successful mission to a space station by the Soviets. The mission proved to be the only one for Salyut 3 as Soyuz 15 failed to dock with the station in August 1974 and the station was de-orbited in January 1975. With the American Skylab missions now complete, the flight marked the start of the monopoly of crewed space activities by the Soviets until the 1981 launch of STS-1, the first Space Shuttle flight, save for the joint Apollo–Soyuz flight of 1975.

Crew

Backup crew

Reserve crew

Mission parameters Mass: 6,570 kg (14,480 lb) Perigee: 250.0 km (155.3 mi) Apogee: 277.0 km (172.1 mi) Inclination: 51.60° Period: 89.70 minutes

Mission highlights With the Salyut 3 space station successfully launched on 24 June 1974, Soyuz 14 was sent into orbit nine days later, on 3 July 1974. The craft docked with the space station the next day, performing a manual approach for the last 100 metres. The crew tested the suitability of Salyut 3 as a crewed military reconnaissance platform. They also tested Almaz station systems, such as the solar arrays. Increased solar activity raised safety issues, but it was decided radiation levels were within safe limits, so the flight continued. Experiments were described by the Soviets, but analysts presumed that much time was taken up with unreported military activities. Claims were made in the aerospace press that objects were laid out at the Baikonur Cosmodrome to photograph to test a high-resolution camera system on board. Some of the experiments the Soviets described included studies of the heart and circulatory systems in orbit, studies of intracranial pressure, monitoring of blood composition, measuring of lung capacity and inhalation/exhalation rates and the testing of a water purification system which condensed moisture from the station's atmosphere. The cosmonauts exercised for two hours each day to counter the effects of weightlessness. Because of this, they were able to climb from their Soyuz descent module without assistance when their flight ended on 19 July 1974. The crew left enough supplies on Salyut 3 to last the next crew at least six months.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soyuz 14

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soyuz 14 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 14 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 14 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 14

In research: Soyuz 14 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 14 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 14 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1974 in spaceflight, 1974 in the Soviet Union, Crewed Soyuz missions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Soyuz 14 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Soyuz 14” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Soyuz 14 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soyuz 14 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 14 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soyuz 14 in simple terms?

Why does Soyuz 14 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 14?

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 14.