Soyuz 10

Soyuz 10 was the first planned visit to the world's first space station, Salyut 1, which had been successfully placed in orbit on April 19, 1971. Although Soyuz 10 brought its crew of cosmonauts Vladimir Shatalov, Aleksei Yeliseyev, and Nikolai Rukavishnikov to the station, they could not dock successfully with it. While the Soyuz physically locked onto the station, the connection was not secure enough to allow the hatches to be opened to allow the cosmonauts inside. Additionally, it appeared that the hatch inside the Soyuz was jammed. This led to a further complication when the mission was abandoned, as the Soyuz had difficulty detatching from the station. When this was successfully accomplished, one last hitch presented itself. Upon re-entry, the capsule became filled with toxic fumes, causing Rukavishnikov to pass out. Fortunately, all three crew members recovered from this ordeal unscathed.

Previous Soyuz mission: Soyuz 9, Next Soyuz mission: Soyuz 11