Soyuz T-10-1

First manned pad abort. Launch vehicle blew up on pad, crew rescued by launch escape tower, which pulled their capsule away at 20 G's.

Launch vehicle blew up on pad at Tyuratam; crew saved by abort system.

About a minute before launch, a fire broke out at the base of the Soyuz booster. Since Strekalov had flown before, he could tell something was wrong by the sounds coming from the booster before it blew. He tightened his harness and told Titov to do the same in anticipation of the launch escape system going off. Seconds later the Soyuz escape tower accelerated at 20 G's, taking the capsule to a safe distance from the pad.

This was the second attempt to launch the crew of Strekalov and Titov to accomplish their mission of augmenting the Salyut 7 solar arrays. They had failed to dock aboard Soyuz T-8 in April and now were grounded for physical evaluation after the high-G escape from the booster. Their mission would have to be accomplished by the crew of Aleksandrov and Lyakhov already aboard the station, although they had not been trained specifically for it.