Backup Crew: Commander: Aleksei Gubarev Vitali Sevastyanov - Flight Engineer Anatoli Voronov - Test Engineer
Soyuz 11 (Russian: Союз 11, Union 11) was the first and only manned mission to board the world's first space station, Salyut 1 (Soyuz 10 had soft-docked but had not been able to enter due to latching issues). The mission arrived at the space station on June 7, 1971 and departed on June 30, 1971. The mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurised during preparations for re-entry, killing the three-man crew. This accident resulted in the only confirmed human deaths to occur in space (as opposed to high atmosphere). The crew members aboard Soyuz 11 were Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovolski and Viktor Patsayev.
The original prime crew for Soyuz 11 consisted of Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov and Pyotr Kolodin. A medical X-ray examination four days before launch suggested that Kubasov might have tuberculosis, and according to the mission rules, the prime crew was replaced with the back-up crew. For Dobrovolski and Patsayev, this was to be their first space mission. After the failure of Salyut 2 to orbit, Kubasov and Leonov were reassigned to Soyuz 9 for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Projecting 1975.
Original Crew: Commander: Alexei Leonov Valeri Kubasov - Flight Engineer Pyotr Kolodin - Test Engineer
