It is known that in the period from 1967 to 1981 on earth orbit was derived 40 manned spacecraft "Soyuz". Then came the ships "Soyuz T" and "Soyuz TM" to deliver crews to the Soviet orbital stations "Salyut" and "Mir", and from February 2003 to the International space station "Alfa". All "Unions" was drawn numbers: "Soyuz-1", "Soyuz-2" and so on. But there is one exception: "Unions" at number 18 was simply "Soyuz-18" and "Soyuz-18-1".

Reference books report that the previous spacecraft, Soyuz-17, launched on 11 January 1975, delivered to the station "Salyut-4" cosmonaut Alexei Gubarev and Georgy Grechko. The Soyuz-18" "abandoned" there next crew - Peter Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov. And about the "Union 18-1," it is said that in April 1975, the astronauts Vasili Lazarev and Oleg Makarov made... suborbital flight (it's the motion of the spacecraft along a ballistic trajectory, that is, the trajectory of the artillery projectile - vehicle into orbit around the Earth does not go).

In 1961, two flight, 15 minutes each, were made by the Americans in may - rear Admiral of the Navy Alan Shepard and in July - Colonel Virgil Grissom. Their main goal was to somehow mitigate the feeling of loss of the American space flight after flight around the Earth Yury Gagarin.

Well, we have 14 years later why this most suborbital flight, the "Union" with the strange double room (and the fact that the flight't have a room, as in the USSR they were given only to the successful launches)?

EMERGENCY SITUATION

On the morning of April 5, 1975 at the Baikonur cosmodrome was preparing the launch of Soyuz-18". The crew was Colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union Vasiliy G. Lazarev and engineer of OKB-1 name of S. p. Korolev, candidate of technical Sciences, Hero of the Soviet Union Oleg G. Makarov. They both flew together in September 1973 on the "Soyuz-12". This time colleagues went to the station "Salyut-4"to change the previous crew - Gubareva and Grechko - and to work there more than a dozen days.

At exactly 10:30 commander and flight engineer took place in the cabin and flight control Center started pre-race countdown. The launch was normal, astronauts have heard the messages transmitted by radio familiar voice Pyotr Klimuk:

"100 seconds of flight... Roll and deviation from the direction of the flight is normal".

"140 seconds. Pressure in the combustion chambers stable".

The instruments in the cockpit of the "Union" was shown that the second stage of the booster has already worked. Aerodynamic fairing reset, the ship was out of the dense layers of the atmosphere.

"260 seconds. All in...".

The message is terminated arose noise interference, then the voice Klimuk was heard again, but some of the weak, and on it were overlapped strange sounds, like someone (or something) unsuccessfully tried to mimic human speech. The astronauts felt that such sounds could make a computer that is trying to send some information by voice. However, to understand the content of this transfer, which lasted five to seven seconds, astronauts have failed.

It took another few seconds, in the cab began to ring alarm and simultaneously flashed red light labeled "Crash of the carrier rocket". By this time onboard stopwatch counted out 270 seconds of flight. Before reaching orbit remained the same, but the refusal of the third stage meant that the ship will not be able to reach the estimated orbit, so should work the emergency rescue system, the lander will separate from the rocket and will rush to the Earth.

And at that moment, amid reports from the control Center that it sounded okay, that's all died down, the astronauts again heard the strangest sound like clumsy imitation of the voice of the person. To understand their meaning crew again failed, and it was unclear as to the radio channel can connect some stranger.

INCREDIBLE LANDING

When at the height of 192 kilometer descent vehicle was thrown from the booster, it is in the first seconds randomly tumbled, and there was a huge overload. But soon stabilization "calmed" apparatus, and he began gently fall to the Ground. Overload was replaced by the state of weightlessness. However, soon the cabin began to vibrate with increasing intensity, and the portholes danced flames: it lander entered into the dense layers of the atmosphere. Past raced, like a tracer shells, some fire clots. A noise was heard transformed into a shrill whistle, and then a deafening howl. After some time the cab several times severely shook, and at the same time the astronauts felt that the rate of fall of the device slows down and comes back a feeling of heaviness. Vibration decreased, and then stopped altogether. Now cabin only slightly rocked, testified to the actuation of the brake parachute.

By this moment at Baikonur already knew that with the launch vehicle accident. Now all was disturbed by one thought: did duly life-support system of a spaceship? But from the speaker's voice came Lazarev, and the audience began cheers: so, astronauts alive, and the relationship with them works!

Positioned descent module: he was above the Altai mountains, near the border with China, about two thousand miles from Baikonur.

"Attention, you above the South-Western Altai! - gave the astronauts from the control Center. - Descend to the mountains, be careful! Search and rescue group has already started. Hold on, you will soon find you!"

Lazarev and Makarov knew warning Center is not just empty words. Under them were hard to reach the snow-covered mountain peaks rising up to three thousand meters high, steep cliffs, steep slopes and precipices. However, any maneuver the astronauts could not. And the cabin continued to fall slowly swaying under the dome of a parachute. Remained only to trust in the mercy of fate.

But the crew felt a powerful impetus, and the descent of the cab stopped. She was finally on solid ground. Now, according to the regulation, some of the astronauts must press the device button, shoot the parachute from the descent module to the gigantic dome under the influence of wind is not pulled the cab on the ground that the relief would be very dangerous. But both cosmonaut was so exhausted, that it simply could not move. Meanwhile cabin remained motionless and was an almost vertical position. After some time Lazarev and Makarov felt already able to move, but some "inner voice" persistently advised them not to touch the button ejection chute. Instead, they opened the hatch and climbed out.

From what they saw, it was not myself. Some kind of wonderful power hooked the dome of a parachute behind a ledge of rock that was covered with dense bushes, and only because of this stretched the lines held lander on a steep mountain slope, which is a few meters below fall into a deep abyss. While the astronauts silently and stood motionless, almost waist-deep in the snow next to spustenim apparatus. They both clearly had what it would be like if they follow the instructions that would separate from him parachute.

THEY DECIDED TO ENSURE THAT ALL RIGHT?

When night came, the astronauts made a fire. Soon in the sky above them appeared planes, they honked at that place of landing detected, and flew away. Lazarev and Makarov were sitting around the fire burning low - in silence under the starry sky.

And suddenly they heard rising in the air whistle and at the same time he saw in the sky some glowing object hovering directly above them. To determine the shape and the height above the earth, the astronauts could not. It was the only bright spot, glittering purple light. Object povisel so for half a minute, and then, as if making sure everything is in order, disappeared.

"I still do not only have no doubt that if we saw a UFO, but also quite sure that this object was trying to establish contact with us using our radio channel," said Vasili Lazarev in an interview with German journalists in 1996. And added:

"I think that only thanks to his intervention, then we landed unharmed in a mountainous area where the relief is more like the moon than of the earth."

When journalists asked Lazarev why neither he nor Makarov after returning to Baikonur said nothing about the UFO, he replied that in those days, if pilots or astronauts reported that he saw in the sky unidentified objects or any of the supernatural, they were removed from further flights. Even Lazarev said that the tape that was recorded their negotiations with the MCC, and where you can clearly hear the most mysterious sounds, subsequently carefully studied. However, the results of research he did not know, but he knows that then this tape was gone.