khoji parkSpace · Altai Mountains · 1975
The Rocket Abort Left Two Cosmonauts on a Snowy Mountainside
A booster failure forced a violent sub-orbital descent in the Altai mountains
Read in slides1. Launch Setup
Soyuz 7K-T No.39 lifted off on April 5, 1975, carrying cosmonauts Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov. The flight was intended to dock with the orbiting Salyut 4 space station. Both crew members had previously flown together on the Soyuz 12 mission. The launch proceeded normally during the initial stages of ascent.
The booster reached an altitude of one hundred and ninety-two kilometers.
2. Booster Separation Failure
At T plus 288.6 seconds, the second and third stages of the booster began separation. Only three of the six locks holding the stages together released, and the third stage's engine ignited with the second stage still attached below it. The third stage's thrust broke the remaining locks, throwing the second stage free but putting the booster under unexpected strain that caused it to deviate from the proper trajectory.
The vehicle deviated from its proper trajectory during ascent.
3. Automatic Abort Triggered
At T plus 295 seconds, the guidance system detected the trajectory deviation and activated an automatic abort program. Because the escape tower had already jettisoned, the abort relied on the spacecraft's own engines. The system separated the spacecraft from the third-stage booster. It then separated the orbital and service modules from the re-entry capsule.
The spacecraft was pointed downward toward Earth during separation.
4. Extreme Re-entry G-Forces
The separation angle significantly accelerated the descent of the capsule. The cosmonauts experienced up to twenty-one point three times normal gravity during the plunge. This deceleration rate far exceeded standard emergency re-entry parameters. Despite the severe overloading, the capsule parachutes deployed correctly.
The parachutes slowed the craft after a brief twenty-one minute flight.
5. Mountain Landing Site
The capsule landed southwest of Gorno-Altaysk on a snow-covered slope in the Altai mountains. It began rolling downhill toward a sheer drop before vegetation snagged the parachutes. The craft came to rest in chest-deep powder snow at sub-zero temperatures. The cosmonauts donned their cold-weather survival clothing immediately.
The landing site sat near the border with China.
6. Destroying Sensitive Documents
The crew remained uncertain whether they had landed inside Chinese territory during a period of hostile relations. They quickly destroyed documents relating to a military experiment planned for the flight. They exited the spacecraft shortly after landing and built a fire. Local temperatures in the region hovered around minus fifteen degrees Celsius.
The men waited for rescue teams in freezing conditions.
7. Helicopter Contact
Rescue helicopters approached the area while the crew maintained radio contact. Rescuers confirmed the men had landed safely within Soviet territory near the town of Aleysk. Deep snow, high altitude, and difficult terrain hampered ground access for the rescue team. The harsh environment prevented an immediate airlift from the mountainside.
The rescue operation took until the following day.
8. Evacuation and Recovery
The rescue team successfully airlifted Lazarev and Makarov out of the mountains to Star City. Initial Soviet reports claimed the men suffered no ill effects from the flight. Subsequent medical evaluations revealed that Lazarev sustained internal injuries from the high-acceleration re-entry. Lazarev never flew into space again following the accident.
Makarov later flew on two subsequent Salyut station missions.
9. Disclosure and Official Designation
Brezhnev's government initially concealed details of the launch failure from the public. The first Soviet publication regarding the realities of the flight appeared a month later. American officials received notification after the crew was rescued. The United States requested a detailed report due to preparations for the joint Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
The Soviets referred to the incident as the April 5th anomaly.
10. Historical Context
The descent module brought Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov back after the booster failure interrupted the launch. They landed on a snowy mountainside and were recovered rather than reaching Salyut 4. Their flight was the aborted Soyuz launch of April 1975, not the later successful Soyuz 18 mission. The emergency separation and descent had preserved the crew after the rocket could no longer continue its planned trajectory.
The crew returned from an aborted launch, not an orbital mission.