The Explorers' Club, № CMXCIX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Soyuz 13
18-26 December 1973: Soyuz 13 lifted off from the Kazakh S.S.R.'s Baikonur Cosmodrome, with CDR Pyotr Klimuk & F.E. Valentin Lebedev aboard a Soyuz 7K-T capsule atop a Soyuz rocket; call sign Kavkaz ("Caucasus"); Lebedev used the Orion 2 telescope to take ultraviolet spectrograms of stars, nebulæ, & Comet Kohoutek; the duo landed amidst a heavy snowstorm in the Kazakh S.S.R.

Commentary: Soyuz 13 flew during Skylab 4, the first time American & Soviet crews had been in space simultaneously.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Soyuz 13
James Horner, "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.