After being bested in the race to the Moon, the Soviet space program turned its attention to space stations with the Salyut program. Salyut 7 was a part of a new generation of crafts, a low-earth-orbiting scientific laboratory complete with telescopes, cameras, and even a greenhouse.

Once the Mir space station was online, Salyut 7 was abandoned to eventually burn up in the atmosphere, its pieces scattering over Capitán Bermúdez, Argentina. This specimen is a piece of the spacecraft, recovered after its impact. It measures 4.142" long.