in space, from onboard the Soyuz T-4 spacecraft entity encounter — May 14, 1981

A catalogue narrative dated 14 May 1981 attributes an extraordinary orbital encounter to Vladimir Kovalyonok and Viktor Savinykh, the Soyuz T-4 crew working aboard Salyut 6. It describes a spherical metallic object approaching from roughly half a mile to hundreds of feet, with eight windows and additional illuminated transparent spheres on its hull. No antennas, solar panels or identifying markings were reported in this version. Three brown-skinned, humanlike occupants allegedly had bright blue, slanting eyes, straight noses, thick eyebrows and motionless expressions. At close range they seemed mechanical. The account includes erratic movements, apparent disappearances, a request for closer contact and a displayed star map. NICAP attributes these claims to Paul Stonehill’s The Soviet UFO Files through a humanoid catalogue; the accessible entry is not a contemporaneous mission log or authenticated film. This must be separated from Kovalyonok’s own recorded account of 5 May 1981. In that interview he described an unusual melon- or barbell-like object, clouds and two flashes, and said Savinykh arrived too late to see it. Antonio Huneeus distinguishes that testimony from an apocryphal, more elaborate press story. The interview does not confirm three beings, a star map or the catalogue’s 14 May contact.