The Soyuz craft was activated on 24 July and the crew returned to earth two days later.

The fire, experts noted, cut off the six-member crew from one of the two three-seat Soyuz craft needed for a complete emergency evacuation.

After a mission troubled by malfunctions, he was killed when his Soyuz 1 craft crashed on landing.

It was never used again after the first flight; instead the Soviet Union continued to develop space stations using the Soyuz craft as the crew shuttle.

The next morning, frogmen were dropped in by helicopters, attached flotation devices to the Soyuz craft and recovered the crew.

The unpressurized service module was the modified service module of a Soyuz craft.

The extra port was for the Soyuz craft that transports Soviet astronauts to and from the station.

The Soyuz craft is designed to come down on land, usually somewhere in the deserts of Kazakhstan in central Asia.

The Soyuz craft are swapped twice a year, and tourists are vying for a seat on the next flight.

Since 2002, four tourists have shelled out about $20 million each to ride into space aboard a Russian Soyuz craft.