Soyuz 38

Soyuz 38 was a Soviet crewed spaceflight launched on September 18, 1980, as part of the Intercosmos program. The mission carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko and Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez to the Salyut 6 space station.

The primary purpose of Soyuz 38 was to conduct joint scientific experiments with the resident crew of Salyut 6, which at the time consisted of Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin. These experiments focused on a variety of fields, including medicine, biology, technology, and Earth observation. Specific experiments included studies of the effects of weightlessness on the human body, specifically addressing adaptation to spaceflight and potential countermeasures to space adaptation syndrome. Other experiments investigated crystal growth in microgravity and the observation of Cuban and Soviet territories from space.

Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez became the first Cuban, and the first Latin American, in space as a result of this mission. Soyuz 38 was a significant event for Cuba, representing a demonstration of technological cooperation between the Soviet Union and Cuba.

The Soyuz 38 spacecraft docked with the Salyut 6 space station on September 19, 1980. The crew spent approximately seven days conducting experiments aboard the station before returning to Earth on September 26, 1980, landing safely in Kazakhstan. The mission was considered a success, contributing valuable data to the understanding of the effects of spaceflight and furthering international cooperation in space exploration.