posted 07-19-2026 07:31 AM               

Space Cover 865: Soyuz 18-1

The cover above was postmarked in Moscow on April 5, 1975, the date that a Soyuz was launched from Baikonur, carrying cosmonauts Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov. That Soyuz did not make it to orbit and gave the crew quite an adventure! The Soviet Union glossed-over this aborted flight, calling it "The April 5 Anomaly" while western writers refer to it as Soyuz 18-1 or 18a. In fact, the Soviet Union did not issue a stamp nor a Kniga cover for this flight since it was not successful. The cover above is an unofficial one, and I don't know who designed the cachet or serviced the cover.

So, what happened on this mission? The launch was normal for the first two stages of the Soyuz booster. The third stage lit off, but the second stage did not separate cleanly, throwing the launch vehicle off course. The abort system activated and fired the Soyuz spacecraft engines to get the crew away from the errant booster (the escape tower had separated earlier). And with the deviation in course, the Soyuz engines drove the spacecraft downward toward the ground. This caused the crew's re-entry through the atmosphere to reach a load of 21 g's, where a normal Soyuz re-entry only subjected the crew to 15 g's.

Despite the higher g-loading, the capsule landed successfully near the Chinese border. The capsule landed on a snow-covered slope and began rolling downhill towards a 499 ft sheer drop before it was stopped by the parachutes becoming snagged on vegetation. Having landed in chest-deep powder snow and a local temperature of 19 °F, the Lazarev and Makarov donned their cold-weather survival clothing. The cosmonauts were uncertain if they had landed in China, at a time when Sino-Soviet relations were extremely hostile, so they quickly destroyed documents relating to a military experiment planned for the flight. They reportedly exited the spacecraft shortly after landing and built a fire. Soon, the crew was in radio contact with a rescue team in an approaching helicopter, who confirmed they were still in the Soviet Union. The deep snow, the high altitude, and the terrain gave the rescuers great difficulty in reaching the cosmonauts. It was the next day before they were safely airlifted out.

Lazarev did not fully recover from injuries from this flight and never flew again. Makarov did recover and flew two later flights. And the official Soyuz 18 mission was launched on May 24, 1975, carrying the 18-1 backup crew (Klimuk and Sevastyanov), was successful, and was celebrated by the Soviet government.

Soyuz 18-1's abort also caused a great deal of consternation in the United States as the Apollo-Soyuz mission was planned to be launched just three months later. But all the technical issues were worked through, and as we all know Apollo-Soyuz (Soyuz 19) was completely successful. So, Soyuz 18-1 not only gave the crew a wild ride, but it also had international importance!

Do any of you have more Soyuz 18-1/18a/" April 5 Anomaly" covers? If so, please post them!

posted 07-20-2026 05:54 PM               

The unlucky Soyuz-18a cosmonaut crew were Vasily Lazarev, top autograph, and Oleg Manarov, who autographed these covers that I bought from busy dealer Sean Marsar for $10 each years ago.

posted 07-21-2026 04:35 PM               

The easy and safe way to get a Soyuz 18-1 crew autographed cover is to get the Soyuz 12 Kniga cover where Lazarev and Makarov also (bravely) flew together on the flight that requalified the Soyuz design after the Soyuz 11 disaster as shown below.

And for Soyuz 18, proper, crew autographs here is the Kniga cover: