[5] Because of the lethal outcome of both the Soyuz 1 and the Apollo 1 missions earlier that year it was decided to proceed with unmanned flights first.

[6] On 27 October 1967 at 09:29:59 GMT, the Soyuz 11A511 s/n U15000-05 booster and Kosmos 186 were set up at Site 31/6 of Baikonur Cosmodrome and the planned mission could be carried out.

[1] On 30 October 1967 at 08:12:41 GMT, the Soyuz 11A511 s/n N15000-07 booster and Kosmos 188 were set up at Site 1/5 of Baikonur Cosmodrome and the planned mission could be carried out.

Despite the anomalies, the automatic docking mission demonstrated a new capability for the Soviet Union that proved valuable to their future human space flight programs.

Although the Soviet lunar landing programme was cancelled before an actual landing mission, automatic dockings were an integral component of their Salyut and Mir space station programs and remain in practice today on the Russian segment of the International Space Station.