In 1971, the Soviet Union launches Salyut 1, the first manned space station.
Salyut 1 was the first space station in history. It remained in orbit for 175 days until it was destroyed by a controlled re-entry into the atmosphere on 11 October, having almost run out of fuel to maintain altitude.
After its launch, the space station was visited by the Soyuz 10 and Soyuz 11 manned missions.
USSR Post – Scanned 600 dpi by User Matsievsky from personal collection