Soyuz 23 was intended to carry cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valeri Rozhdestvenski to the Salyut 5 space station, presumably on an Almaz military mission. Although the Soyuz reached the station, a malfunction of the docking system did not allow a docking, similar to the problem experienced by Soyuz 15. Once again, by the time the automatic system had failed, there was no more fuel left for a manual docking and the mission had to be abandoned. October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... It has been suggested that leap second be merged into this article or section. ... The Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakh: Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, Bayqoñır ğarış aylağı; Russian: Космодром Байконур, Kosmodrom Baykonur), also called Tyuratam, is the worlds oldest and largest working space launch facility. ... October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Astana, estimated population 500,000 (2003, the city is very fast-growing), has been the capital of Kazakhstan since 1997. ... The Soyuz human spaceflight programme was initiated in the early 1960s as part of the manned lunar programme that was intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. ... Vyacheslav Dmitriyevich Zudov, born January 8, 1942 in Bor, Gorki Oblast, Russian SFSR, was a USSR cosmonaut. ... Born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR on February 13, 1939. ... Salyut 5 was launched on June 22, 1976 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Proton 8K82K rocket. ... The space station Mir A space station is an artificial structure designed for humans to live in outer space. ... The Almaz (Алмаз - Diamond) program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the Salyut program. ... Soyuz 15 was a human spaceflight mission of the Soviet Union. ...

The spacecraft experienced a remarkable and near-catastrophic return to Earth. It descended onto a frozen lake in the middle of a snowstorm. The parachutes quickly filled with water, and dragged the capsule and its crew beneath the surface. Numerous attempts by recovery teams to reach it by amphibious vehicle failed. Inside the capsule, the heating had to be turned down in order to conserve power. Eventually, swimmers attached a cable to the capsule that allowed it to be dragged clear of the lake by a helicopter. The recovery team found the crew still alive.

Crew

• Vyacheslav Zudov (1)
• Valeri Rozhdestvensky (1)

Vyacheslav Dmitriyevich Zudov, born January 8, 1942 in Bor, Gorki Oblast, Russian SFSR, was a USSR cosmonaut. ... Valeri Rozhdestvensky was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR on February 13, 1939. ...

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6760 kg
• Perigee: 239 km
• Apogee: 269 km
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 89.5 min