Soyuz 4 was launched on 14 January 1969, carrying cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov on his first flight. The aim of the mission was to dock with Soyuz 5, transfer two crew members from that spacecraft, and return to Earth. The previous Soyuz flight was also a docking attempt but failed for various reasons.

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shatalov was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut who flew three space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 4, Soyuz 8, and Soyuz 10. From 1987 to 1991, he headed the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.