Soyuz 14 carried cosmonautsYuri Artyukhin and Pavel Popovich to the Salyut 3space station. The mission was part of the Soviet Union's Almaz programme to evaluate military applications of human spaceflight. At the time, however, the military nature of this mission and the station itself were not acknowledged by Soviet authorities.
The crew tested the suitability of Salyut 3 as a manned military reconnaissance
satellite. They also tested Almaz station systems, such as the solar
arrays. The cosmonauts exercised for 2 hours each day to counter the effects
of weightlessness. Because of this, they were able to climb from their Soyuz
Ferry descent module without assistance at the end of their flight.
During their two-week stay on the station, the cosmonauts undertook military
reconnaissance tasks and various biomedical experiments. All mission objectives were reportedly met.
