Soyuz 20 (Russian: Союз 20, Union 20) was an uncrewed spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union. It was a long-duration test of the Soyuz spacecraft that docked with the Salyut 4space station. Soyuz 20 performed comprehensive checking of improved on-board systems of the spacecraft under various flight conditions. It also carried a biological payload. Living organisms were exposed to three months in space. The primary goal of the mission was to test hardware modifications to the Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft that would extend its operating life from two to three months in preparation for long-duration Salyut crew residencies.
It was recovered on 16 February 1976 at 02:24 UTC.[1]
References
^ abc"Soyuz 20". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^Mark Wade. "Baikonur LC1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
^ ab"Soyuz 20: Trajectory". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Uncrewed missions are designated as Kosmos instead of Soyuz; exceptions are noted "(uncrewed)". The † sign designates failed missions. Italics designates cancelled missions.
Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).
