";s:4:"text";s:2968:" The title of “first space station” properly goes to Salyut 1, launched by the Soviet Union in 1971. The name Salyut (“Salute”) was chosen to honour Yury Gagarin’s … On the 19th April 1971 the Soviet Union launched Salyut 1 - the first space station of any kind. The first Salyut station (after the Russian word for "salute") was launched just over 10 years after the flight of Yuri Gagarin and was intended as an honor to him. As part of the Salyut program (it means “salute” in Russian), the Soviets built steadily improved versions of the space station, culminating in Salyut 7 in 1982. Salyut 1 or DOS 1 (Dolgovremennaya Orbitalnaya Stanziya) was the first crewed space station. At about 60 ft. long and 12 ft. wide, Salyut 1 provided less the open-cosmos feel of a trip to space than the claustrophobic feel of a descent in a submarine. The Salyut program followed this with five more successful launches out of seven more stations. The station had a launch mass of 18425 kg, measured 20 m in length, 4 m in maximum diameter, and had 99 m³ in interior space. The station was based on the Almaz reconnaissance platform designed by aerospace engineer Vladimir Chelomey, and adapted for use with the Soyuz manned spacecraft that had been developed by Chelomey’s rival Sergey Korolyov. The Salyut 7 space station, launched on April 19, 1982, built on the experience gained from the long-duration expeditions to Salyut 6 from 1977 to 1981 lasting up to six months in order to support still longer missions in orbit. But like a sub, it was at least a sturdy ship. Salyut 1 (DOS-1) was the first space station of any kind, launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. Although its first designated crew docked five days later in Soyuz 10, the cosmonauts could not open their ferry’s hatch and had to return home.
The Salyut program followed this with five more successful launches of seven more stations. The civilian DOS type space station were derived from the military Almaz (OPS) type station. The Soviets launched the first space station of any kind, the Salyut 1 (R), to conduct tests and scientific research in low-Earth orbit.