Soyuz T-8

Soyuz T-8 was a Soviet crewed spacecraft launched on April 20, 1983, carrying Vladimir Titov, Gennadi Strekalov, and Aleksandr Serebrov to the Salyut 7 space station. The mission was intended to reactivate the station, which had been left uncrewed due to a malfunction.

However, the Igla rendezvous system malfunctioned during the approach to Salyut 7. The crew attempted a manual rendezvous, but as they closed in, they miscalculated their closing velocity and performed a hard docking, damaging the spacecraft's antenna.

Because of the damaged antenna, communication with mission control was severely hampered, and the crew were unable to perform a planned spacewalk to repair the station's solar arrays. Without the spacewalk capabilities and reliable communication, mission control deemed the mission compromised.

Soyuz T-8 returned to Earth on April 22, 1983, after only two days in orbit, without docking to Salyut 7. It was one of the shortest Soviet crewed missions. The station was later successfully reactivated by the Soyuz T-9 mission.