What is the Secret of the Soyuz??

The Capsule Arrives

In the middle of the cold war, the space race was in full swing. The Soviets trusted no-one.
Their Soyuz space capsules would go into space and return, often to be stripped and crushed to prevent the technology getting out. Documents were destroyed; secrecy was the name of the game.

The clues are waiting inside

Sometime around the end of the 1960’s, a Soyuz 7K-0K capsule, the first generation of Soyuz, rolled off the production line. 30 years later it was moved from its home of at least 25 years, an outside central courtyard in a cultural palace in Georgia, via the UK, and now resides at Chabot Space & Science Center awaiting conservation before it can become part of a new space exhibit.

But what is its story before it came to be on outside display? How did it escape being crushed? Are the parts inside it original or were they added later? Was it ever flown in space?

Regardless of the answers to these questions, this capsule is already important. It is probably the oldest and most complete early Soyuz descent capsule outside of the former Soviet Union. The Soyuz in the National Air and Space Museum is a more modern capsule.

The cleanup begins

Over the next year, Chabot Space & Science Center will be fully conserving the capsule. This involves taking it completely apart to clean out at least 25 years worth of accumulated corrosion from being outside, and stabilizing it for display. Along the way, we hope to discover many clues that will help us piece together the secrets of our Soyuz.