Salyut 1 became the world's first space station in 1971. Soyuz 10 reached it but could not complete docking; Soyuz 11 established the first resident station crew and conducted 24 days of research before the fatal return accident.

The name Salyut covered both civilian DOS laboratories and military Almaz stations publicly designated Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. Later civilian stations added greater endurance, two docking ports, Progress resupply, and overlapping resident and visiting crews.

Salyut 6 and 7 became mature orbital outposts hosting Soviet and international cosmonauts. Soyuz T-15 closed the era by flying between Mir and Salyut 7, physically transferring equipment and experience to the modular-station generation.