Intercosmos

Mission name: Soyuz 31 / Salyut 6
Call sign: Yastreb (Hawk)
Number of crew members: 2

Launch:
26 August 1978, 14:51:30 UTC, Baikonur
Landing:
2 November 1978, 11:04:17 UTC, 140 km SE of Dzhezkazgan
Duration: 67 days, 20 hours, 12 minutes, 47 seconds
Number of orbits: 124

CREW

Launched

• Valery Bykovsky (3)
• Sigmund Jähn – German Democratic Republic (1)

Landed

• Vladimir Kovalyonok (2)
• Aleksander Ivanchenkov (1)

Backup

• Viktor Gorbatko (3)
• Eberhard Köllner – German Democratic Republic (0)

(1) number of spaceflights each crew member has completed, including this mission

MISSION HIGHLIGHTS

Docked with Salyut 6. Crew returned in Soyuz 29; crew duration 7 days, 20 hours, 49 minutes.

Sigmund Jähn was the first German Democratic Republic cosmonaut to orbit. Carried first German spacetraveler, paired with veteran cosmonaut Valery Bykovski (he flew solo in Vostok 5, June 1963).

After the Yastreb crew departed from Salyut 6 in Soyuz 29 on 3 September 1978, the Foton crew transferred the Soyuz 32 to the Salyut 6 front port. Moving a replacement Soyuz to the front port became standard procedure; it freed the aft port for Progress supply ships.