Vlokozu Orbital Lab

The Vlokozu Orbital Lab was the Vlokozu Union's only space station, being launched and operated by the Vlokozuian Space Agency, the station was occupied for 272 days over the course of four missions from April 28th, 1977, to January 25th, 1978.

Background
The idea of the Vlokozu Union having a space station dates back to the early 70's with Salyut 1 and Skylab, specifically. Michael Vlokozu was particularly interested in the idea of a space station as a source of national pride, in 1974, the V.U. Government officially announced the Vlokozu Orbital Lab program as a way to "conduct orbital science and further develop the technological development of the Vlokozu Union."

Development
The final designs for the Vlokozu Orbital Lab were finalized in late 1974, with the station's main crew compartment to be a modified Meteor I third stage, being modified to have an airlock, docking port, and cupola module, due to the successful landing of the Peacekeeper One, a Vlokozu Union Mars lander which became the first spacecraft on Mars on June 7th, 1976, an increased sense of pride and funding pushed forward the development of the Orbital Lab, by February of 1977, the station was completed and was shipped to the launch site to be launched.

Launch
On April 23rd, 1977, at 1:37 PM, after a couple of years of development and construction, the Vlokozu Orbital Station was launched aboard a borrowed Proton K rocket from the Soviet Union on the uncrewed V.O.L. 1 mission, the station was unmanned for two weeks until the launch of V.O.L. 2.

Crewed Missions
The V.O.L. 2 mission was launched on May 7th, 1977, just two weeks after the launch of V.O.L. 1, the crew consisted of Commander Justin Koch and Scientist Ned Canton, who were launched aboard a Meteor II launch vehicle at Launch Site 1A, all of the other missions followed this format, the first crew docked with the Vlokozu Orbital Lab about four hours into the flight, each crew of the station stayed for 68 days per mission, the final mission, V.O.L. 5 departed the station on January 25th 1978, a V.O.L. 6 mission was planned but was scrapped due to a refocus on other missions and lack of public interest.

Reentry
On the 3rd of July 1978, the Vlokozu Orbital Lab reentered the atmosphere, debris from the station crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 45 miles west of the Vlokozuian coast, some of the debris, including a fragment of the cupola module was found and kept as souvenirs.

Legacy
The Vlokozu Orbital Lab is usually looked at as an interesting endeavor for the Vlokozuian Space Agency however not one that really kept the public's interest long enough for the station to be reliable.