On this day in space! July 29, 1982: Soviet Salyut 6 space station falls to Earth
On July 29, 1982, the Soviet Salyut 6 space station was intentionally deorbited and burned up in Earth's atmosphere after a mold infestation rendered it unusable. The station was a milestone in space exploration, featuring dual docking ports that enabled longer crewed missions.
Why it matters
Salyut 6 represents a critical evolution in space station design, paving the way for modern modular space habitats like the ISS.
Salyut 6 was the Soviet space program's first second-generation space station and raised the bar for cosmonaut spaceflight.
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Click for next article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter On July 29, 1982, the Salyut 6 space station fell out of space and safely burned up in Earth's atmosphere along the way.
Salyut 6 was the eighth space station the Soviet Union had built for its Salyut program . It spent almost five years in orbit and supported five different crewed cosmonaut missions. While aboard Salyut 6, those cosmonauts made astronomical observations and studied the effects of spaceflight on the human body .
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