Salyut Activities
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Salyut Activities Launch dates of Salyut space stations an- cabin’s atmosphere to escape. The cosmonauts, nounced by the Soviets: 14 wearing no spacesuits, perished. * From then un- til the launch of Soyuz T-3 in 1980, Soyuz vehicles Salyut I ., . .Apr. 19, 1971 Salyut 2. .Apr. 3, 1973 (failed) were redesigned to allow the crew to wear space- Salyut 3.... .. June 25,1974 suits. Crew size was reduced to two to provide Salyut4 . .Dec. 26,1974 sufficient room for the suits and related equip- Salyut 5.... ..June 22, 1976 ment. Salyut 1 was intentionally removed from Salyut6 ... ..Sept. 29, 1977 orbit 175 days after launch. Salyut 7. ... ... ..Apr. 19, 1982 Salyut 1 Salyut 2 The first in the Salyut series carried an Orion This vehicle did not achieve stability in orbit, I telescope for obtaining spectrograms of stars in began to tumble, and broke up before crews could the 2,OOO to 3,OOO angstrom region of the elec- occupy it. tromagnetic spectrum; a gamma-ray telescope, called Anna III, provided observations unattain- Salyut 3 able from Earth. Several optical and multispec- Unlike Salyut 1, which had two sets of fixed tralcameras were used for astronomical and Earth solar panels fore and aft, Salyut 3 carried two photography. Photo sessions of geological and larger panels attached just aft of the centerbody, meteorological phenomena were coordinated with on the rear transfer module .15 These panels could aircraft flights and orbiting weather satellites. be rotated so the craft could continue to receive Making use of a hydroponic farm, biological ex- solar power whenever it was in sunlight, whatever periments centered on the effects of weightlessness its orientation. Salyut 3 was also modified so that on plant growth and nutrition. Long-term impli- 16 its docking port was aft . Other noteworthy mod- cations of the effects of microgravity on the ifications included higher efficiency power and human organism were also studied. life-support systems and more convenient interior A first attempt to board the station by a three- design. man crew on Soyuz 10 was thwarted by faulty Cosmonauts aboard Salyut 3 conducted some docking equipment on the Soyuz. A second at- 400 scientific and technical experiments, includ- tempt by Soyuz 11 cosmonauts was successful; ing high-resolution photo reconnaissance and/or this three-man crew became the world’s first oc- Earth resources observation, spectrographic study cupants of what some would describe as a true of aerosol particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, the “space station”-i.e., long-term in-space in- culturing of bacteria, and the recycling of water. frastructure that accommodates human beings— residing in Salyut for 23 days. This initial success, The crew of Soyuz 14 resided aboard Salyut however, was followed by an unhappy ending. 3 for 14 days, but a follow-on Soyuz 15 crew A valve, intended for equalizing internal and ex- proved unable to effect docking. Overall, the sta- ternal pressures as the spacecraft descended tion remained operational for twice its design life- through the atmosphere during recovery, jerked time. Some 2 months after Salyut 3’s final crew open at the instant of the explosive separation of departed, a data capsule was ejected and recov- the command and orbital modules, permitting the ered on Earth. That only a few photographs, ldco~mos 557, launched May 11, 1973, has been identified in ● The cause of death was embolism, i.e., the formation of bub- Western circles as a successfully orbited Salyut, although the sta- bles in the bloodstream. tion suffered a propulsion or command-sequencer failure, render- “Although all subsequent Salyuts retained this midship mount- ing it useless for human occupation. The vehicle rapidly decayed ing of solar panels, they were placed farther aft on Salyuts 3 and in orbital altitude, reentering the atmosphere on May 22, 1973. See, 5 than on Salyuts 4, 6, and 7. See, for example, AlV&ST, Dec. 4, “Reception of Radio Signals From Cosmos 557, ” The Kettering 1978, p. 17. Group, Space flight, vol. 16, 1974, pp. 39-40. ‘*Ibid, 21 22 .- 6.98 m o t / 6,700 Kg. Credit C P V/ck, 1983 Soyuz 1 l/SaIyut 1. Total volume: 100.3 m3. Total weight: 25,600 kg. Total solar panel surface area: 42m2 showing noncritical interior equipment aboard about 2.5 tonnes, was of much greater variety and Salyut 3, have been released encourages specula- capability than that carried on previous stations. tion that its primary mission was probably mili- The cosmonauts’ time was devoted each day to tary. a specific area of investigation-astronomical, Earth resources, or biomedical. X-ray, solar, and Salyut 4 infrared spectrometric telescopes were among the host of instruments employed. Making repeated The design of this station, seemingly primari- observations of agricultural patterns, forests, and ly civilian in character, allowed the crew more maritime areas, the crew collected a large body ready access for repair and replacement purposes. of data on Earth resources. They also studied Two navigation systems for the station’s automat- micro-organisms, higher plants, and the human ic control were evaluated, as was a new teletype cardiovascular system, measuring the tone of system. Onboard scientific equipment, weighing blood vessels and the circulation of blood to the ——.— — 23 6.98 m I ‘1 I 14.42 m 16 m 2 I .4 m < #<, 1 23 m I < * Credtt ~ C P V/ck, 1983 Soyuz 18/Salyut 4: Total volume: 100,3 m’. Total weight: 25,600 kg. Total solar panel surface area: 60 m’ Solar panel span: 17 m brain, The cosmonauts also evaluated the effec- aboard were the Soyuz 18B team; they remained tiveness of various exercise and diet regimes for on the station for 62 days. Soyuz 20, a vehicle counteracting the reconditioning effects of micro- without crew, carried biological specimens; it gravity, docked and remained at the station for 89 days before returning to Earth. Part of its mission was The first crew to board Salyut 4 arrived on to determine whether Soyuz could remain without Soyuz 17; they remained for 29 days. The mis- power for a relatively long time before restarting sion of their scheduled successors, the crew of 17 its power supply without mishap—an important Soyuz 18A, was aborted during ascent, Next consideration in planning for one crew to remain aboard a Salyut for a lengthy mission. Salyut 4 1-18A is the U.S. designation. The Soviets refer to this event as was purposely taken out of orbit after 770 days the April .S anomaly, of flight. 24 Salyut 5 on Salyut 3, that was used to study mineral de- posits, seismic areas, environmental damage Salyut 5, the second station thought by Western caused by mud streams and railway construction analysts to be primarily military, was the last in paths. A device for smelting certain metals—bis- the Salyut series to carry only one docking port, muth, tin, lead, and cadmium-and a crystal a design characteristic which effectively prevents growth experiment were evaluated in the station’s a resupply vehicle from docking when a crew of microgravity environment. As in previous Sal- cosmonauts is already aboard. * Salyut 5 demon- yuts, biological experiments on fish, plants, and strated a high-resolution camera, similar to that fruit flies were also conducted; algae and higher order plants were cultivated to examine the ef- *It is technically possible, but too risky, to back off one spacecraft fects o~ the spaceflight environment on their de- and then dock another while the crew is on board the station. velopment and growth. .2 ? I 6,800 1($ 14.4 m ? 21.38 m ? I 22.38 m ? Cred/t. ~ C. P VIck, 1983 “Military” Salyut Conceptional Design: Total volume: 99 m3. Total mass: 25,300 kg. Total solar panel surface area (estimated): over 50 m2. Total mass: over 25,000 to 25,300 kg. Only a few written descriptions, a few movie film segments, and a few photographs of the internal and external design layout of the Miiitaw Salyut 3 and 5 vehicles have been released 25 Over the course of Salyut 5’s stay in orbit, Cosmonauts routinely worked as in-orbit re- Soyuz 21 brought a two-man crew, who remained pairmen, enabling the station’s design life of 18 on the station for 49 days; the crew of Soyuz 23 months to be greatly surpassed. Because of the failed to dock; and the crew of Soyuz 24 remained longevity of Salyut 6, perhaps to the surprise even aboard for 16 days. of the Soviets themselves, its crews registered an impressive list of accomplishments. Space applica- Like Salyut 3, this station ejected a recoverable tions and Earth observations each accounted for pod to Earth after its last crew departed, and, as about one-third of the cosmonauts’ work sched- with Salyut 3, the Soviets have released only in- ule; the final third was split between biomedical ternal photographs of limited interest. The sta- studies and astrophysics. tion remained in orbit for 412 days before it was commanded to reenter. The two docking ports permitted 33 successful dockings using vehicles with and without cosmo- nauts. At least two crews tried but failed to dock with the station. Five long-duration cosmonaut Salyut 6 crews and 11 visiting crews accumulated a total of 676 days of operation. New duration records By far the most productive of Soviet space sta- for human spaceflight were successively estab- tions, this “second generation” Salyut included lished: 96, 140, 175, and 185 days. During Salyut two docking ports, fore and aft; the station was 6’s lifetime, eight cosmonauts from the Soviet bloc fashioned to support a new propulsion system resided in Salyut for short periods; Soyuz 33, car- capable of being refueled in orbit.