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Soyuz 3 was a spaceflight mission launched by the Soviet Union on 26 October 1968. Flown by Georgy Beregovoy, the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft completed 81 orbits over four days. The 47-year-old Beregovoy was a decorated World War II flying ace and the oldest person to go into orbit up to that time. The mission achieved the first Russian space rendezvous with the uncrewed Soyuz 2, but failed to achieve a planned docking of the two craft. As of May 2026, this mission marks the last time a Soviet/Russian cosmonaut was launched alone to conduct an entirely solo orbital mission.
Image: USSR Post, Public domain · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
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