Soyuz T-7

Soyuz T-7 was a Soviet crewed spacecraft launched on June 24, 1982, as part of the Soyuz program. It transported the second long-duration crew to the Salyut 7 space station. The mission's crew consisted of Leonid Popov, Aleksandr Serebrov, and Svetlana Savitskaya, the second woman in space, nineteen years after Valentina Tereshkova.

The primary objective of Soyuz T-7 was to conduct scientific and technical research aboard Salyut 7. Savitskaya performed a series of experiments, including welding and cutting metals in the vacuum of space, which were of significant interest for future space construction activities. The mission also focused on medical and biological experiments to understand the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body.

Soyuz T-7 docked with Salyut 7 on June 25, 1982. Popov and Serebrov joined the resident crew of Salyut 7, Anatoly Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev, forming the first time five people were aboard a space station. Savitskaya, Popov, and Serebrov returned to Earth on August 27, 1982, aboard Soyuz T-5, leaving Berezovoy and Lebedev to continue their long-duration mission. Soyuz T-7 remained docked with Salyut 7.