Soyuz 13
| Mission type | Astronomy |
|---|---|
| Operator | Soviet space program |
| COSPAR ID | 1973-103A |
| SATCAT no. | 06982 |
| Mission duration | 7 days 20 hours 55 minutes 35 seconds |
| Orbits completed | 127 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz 7K-T No.2 |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz 7K-T-AF |
| Manufacturer | Experimental Design Bureau (OKB-1) |
| Launch mass | 6570 kg |
| Landing mass | 1200 kg |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 2 |
| Members | Pyotr Klimuk Valentin Lebedev |
| Callsign | Кавказ (Kavkaz - "Caucasus") |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 18 December 1973, 11:55:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz |
| Launch site | Baikonur, Site 1/5 |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 26 December 1973, 08:50:35 UTC |
| Landing site | 200 km at the southwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 225.0 km |
| Apogee altitude | 272.0 km |
| Inclination | 51.60° |
| Period | 89.20 minutes |
Vimpel Diamond for entrainment patch A post stamp depicting the crew | |
Soyuz 13 (Russian: Союз 13, Union 13) was a December, 1973, Soviet crewed space flight, the second test flight of the redesigned Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft that first flew as Soyuz 12. The spacecraft was specially modified to carry the Orion 2 Space Observatory. The flight, crewed by Pyotr Klimuk and Valentin Lebedev, was the Soviet Union's first dedicated science mission, and was the first mission controlled by the new Kaliningrad Mission Control Center.