Soyuz Setback

When Soyuz 15 was launched last week from the Soviet space center in Kazakhstan, every sign pointed to another attempt to link up with the Salyut 3 space station, which has been orbiting the earth since last June. Yet after only two days aloft, Soyuz 15 returned abruptly to earth without docking with the lab. The landing, made at night and in bad weather, seemed to underline the urgency of the return. What had gone wrong? As usual, the Soviets admitted no problem, but American space analysts speculated that Soyuz's electrical power plant may have failed during the docking attempt. They also considered it possible that the ship's rookie commander, Air Force Lieut. Colonel Gennady Sarafanov, 32, and his engineer sidekick, Colonel Lev Demin, 48, the first grandfather in space, simply were unable to hitch up with their target. Whatever the cause, the shortened flight was an embarrassment to the Russians, who had advertised it as another warmup for next year's Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous. It was also a disappointment to American officials, who worry that Soviet space technology might not be up to the joint mission. Moreover, financially-strapped NASA now will find it more difficult to convince Congress that it needs more funds for space research, particularly for joint experiments with the Russians.

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