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First failure to dock at a space station since Soyuz 33 in 1979. When the launch shroud separated from the booster, it took with it the rendezvous antenna boom. The crew believed the boom remained attached to the spacecraft’s orbital module, and that it had not locked into place. Accordingly, they shook the spacecraft using its attitude thrusters in an effort to rock it forward so it could lock. The abortive docking attempts consumed much propellant. To ensure that enough would remain to permit deorbit, the cosmonauts shut down the attitude control system and put Soyuz-T 8 into a spinstabilized mode of the type used by Soyuz Ferries in the early 1970s. Landing occurred as normal.

	Soyuz-T 9	June 27, 1983-November 23, 1983
	Vladimir Lyakhov, Alexandr Alexandrov Crew code name—Proton Its mission was heavily impacted by the Soyuz-T and Soyuz booster failures which bracketed it.

	Pad Abort	September 26, 1983
	Vladimir Titov, Gennadi Strekalov Crew code name—Okean Refer to figure 1-29. Shortly before liftoff fuel spilled around the base of the Soyuz launch vehicle and caught fire. Launch control activated the escape system, but the control cables had already burned. The crew could not activate or control the escape system, but 20 sec later ground control was able to activate the escape system by radio command. By this time the booster was engulfed in flames. Explosive bolts fired to separate the descent module from the service module and the upper launch shroud from the lower. Then the escape system motor fired, dragging the orbital module and descent module, encased within the upper shroud, free of the booster at 14 to 17 g’s of acceleration. Acceleration lasted 5 sec. Seconds after the escape system activated, the booster exploded, destroying the launch complex (which was, incidentally, the one used to launch Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1). Four paddle-shaped stabilizers on the outside of the shroud opened. The descent module separated from the orbital module at an altitude of 650 m, and dropped free of the shroud. It discarded its heat shield, exposing the solid-fueled land landing rockets, and deployed a fast-opening emergency parachute. Landing occurred about 4 km from the launch pad. The aborted mission is often called Soyuz-T 10a in the West. This was the last failed attempt to date to reach a space station to date.[1]

	Soyuz-T 10	February 8-April 11, 1984
	Launch crew—Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov, Oleg Atkov Crew code name—Mayak Landing crew—Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Svetlana Savitskaya, Igor Volk Crew code name—Pamir Called Soyuz-T 10b in the West.

1. Nicholas Johnson, The Soviet Year in Space: 1983, Teledyne Brown Engineering, 1984, p. 44.