Soyuz

“ The Soyuz spacecraft underwent further redesign in the aftermath of the Soyuz 11 accident. Putting the cosmonauts in pressure suits during “dynamic operations” (such as liftoff, docking, reentry, and landing) forced Soviet engineers to pull one crew couch. The solar arrays were replaced by chemical batteries to save weight, restricting Soyuz to 2 days of autonomous flight. Removing the arrays also improved the spacecraft’s maneuverability. In addition, the Soviets modified the Soyuz orbital module to improve its ability to carry cargo to Salyut stations. ”

“ Electronics more complex than those on the Original Soyuz, in keeping with its more demanding mission. Oxygen/hydrogen fuel cells and batteries replaced the solar arrays of the Original Soyuz. Descent module had a heat shield thicker than that of the Original Soyuz, permitting it to withstand reentry at lunar return speeds. Figure 1-15. Kontakt docking system. Never used in space, the system was designed for the Soviet lunar program. The Aktiv unit (top) was located at the front of the L2, while the passive unit was located on top of the L3 lander. ”

“ Referring in 1976 to the Soyuz 20’s docking with Salyut 4, former cosmonaut and Salyut designer Konstantin Feoktistov stated that “the successful link-up of the unmanned spaceship with the operating station opens up real opportunities for a more economical organization of space research. For instance, in case of necessity we could launch into orbit scientific equipment or food reserves or drinking water.” Elsewhere, Feoktistov stated that Soyuz 20 “was docked with the station in order to perform long-term resource tests on the spacecraft under orbital flight conditions in the station make-up.” ”

“ In order from fore to aft, these were an attitude control module, a living module, a reentry/command module,
Figure 1-2. L1 Soyuz manned circumlunar concept (1962) . Should not be confused with the L1 (Zond) spacecraft (figure 1-9) . The cone at the front (right) of the L1 Soyuz is an attitude control module; behind it are cylindrical orbital and descent modules, and a frustum-shaped service module. The round appendage (right) is a solar array, and the dish, a high-gain antenna. At the rear of the L1 are three booster modules.
Figure 1-3. Vostok rocket. ”

“ The cosmonauts were ordered to return to Earth. They had less than 2 days of battery power left and had already missed the landing opportunity for that day, so they powered down systems to conserve power. A blizzard with squall force winds broke out in the landing zone, but the Soyuz capsule was designed to land in any weather. Reentry over North Africa was normal. The Soyuz 23 descent module lowered in the dark on its single red and white parachute, rocking as it encountered the high winds driving snow across the landing area. ”

“ Apart from their docking systems, they differed only slightly from the Original Soyuz. The three Soyuz 10 cosmonauts became the first people to dock with a space station, but were unable to enter Salyut 1. This was blamed on a “weak” docking unit. [15] The Soyuz 11 crew occupied Salyut 1 in June 1971. Because Soyuz cosmonauts wore pressure suits only for EVAs, the Soyuz 11 crew perished during reentry when pyro shock jarred open a 1-mm pressure equalization valve, allowing the Soyuz 11 descent module to vent its atmosphere into space. ”

“ Salyut 7 • Soyuz-T 7 August 29-September 20, 1982 SPort Transfer. Soyuz-T 7 was repositioned by rotating Salyut 7, freeing the aft port for Progress 15. Salyut 7 is home. On September 1 Lebedev concluded his diary entry:
I look around the station and view it with a different attitude. Now I think of it as home. The whole place looks so familiar. Everything in it is so near and dear to me now. When I look at the interior of the station, I feel no alienation, no sense that my surroundings are temporary or strange. Everything is ours. We’ve touched every square millimeter and object in here. ”

“ Soyuz 27 • Salyut 6 • Soyuz 26 January 11-16, 1978 Soyuz 27 arrives at Salyut 6. The Soviets hurried to take advantage of the undamaged Salyut 6 forward port. Soyuz 27 docked without incident at the front port carrying cosmonauts Oleg Makarov and Vladimir Dzhanibekov, who formed the first Visiting Expedition crew in the Soviet space station program (or, for that matter, in any space station program) . For the docking, the Tamyrs withdrew to their Soyuz 26 spacecraft and sealed the hatch into Salyut 6 behind them. ”

“ The Soyuz-TM land landing system is effective at reducing velocity in the vertical direction. However, according to cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, winds at the landing site often impart considerable horizontal velocity. As a result, about 80% of all Soyuz descent modules come to rest on their sides. During the rough landing, Krikalev suffered a minor injury to his knee. [84]
Soyuz-TM 8 September 5, 1989-February 19, 1990 Alexander Viktorenko, Alexandr Serebrov
Crew code name—Vityaz
Launch vehicle was painted with advertisements. ”

“ The agreement established the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) to develop and fly a standardized docking system “to enhance the safety of manned flight in space and to provide the opportunity for conducting joint scientific missions in the future.”
On July 15, 1975, the afternoon countdown for the Soviet launch was completed and Soyuz lifted off from the Baykonur complex near Tyuratum in Central Asia, some 3200 kilometers (2000 miles) southeast of Moscow. Soyuz carried cosmonauts Alexey Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov. ”

“ Apollo and Soyuz join in space. Note the docking module (DM) attached to Apollo’s nose. The DM was stored for launch within a shroud between the CSM and the S-IVB second stage of the Apollo Saturn IB launch vehicle. In orbit the Apollo inserted its probe unit into the standard Apollo drogue unit of the docking module, extracted the DM from the S-IVB, then performed rendezvous and docking with the Soyuz spacecraft. ”

“ Progress craft deliver propellants, pressurant, air, air regenerators, water, food, clothing, bedding, mail, and other supplies. Resupply by specialized spacecraft in turn called for multiple docking ports, one for the resident crew’s Soyuz Ferry and at least one for the resupply spacecraft. Progress freighters not only resupply the stations—they also deliver repair parts and new apparatus, permitting the stations’ useful lives to be extended well beyond their original design lifetimes. ”

“ The Soyuz 27-Salyut 6-Soyuz 26 combination massed about 33,000 kg and featured seven compartments: two descent modules, two orbital modules, the transfer compartment, the work compartment, and the small aft intermediate compartment. The four cosmonauts conducted many experiments, including Rezonans, which was designed to determine if resonant frequencies might threaten the structural integrity of the three-spacecraft combination. ”

“ Control equipment normally located in the Soyuz orbital and descent modules was placed in the service module of the Progress spacecraft. The service module also carried equipment for controlling propellant transfer. Progress had mounted to its service module two infrared local vertical sensors (horizon sensors) and two ion sensors for its guidance system. Soyuz, by contrast, had one ion sensor and one infrared horizon sensor. Redundancy was provided because Progress was a wholly automated craft. ”

“ Soyuz internal transfer docking unit. This system is used today for docking spacecraft to Mir. The active craft inserts its probe into the space station receiving cone. The probe tip catches on latches in the socket at the apex of the cone. Motors then draw the two spacecraft together. Latches in the docking collars catch, and motors close them. Fluid, gas, and electrical connections are established through the collars. After the cosmonauts are certain the seal is airtight, they remove the probe and drogue units, forming a tunnel between spacecraft and station. ”

“ Cosmos 238 August 28-September 1, 1968 Unmanned Soyuz meant either to requalify the Original Soyuz for manned flight after the Soyuz 1 accident or to serve as a docking target for a manned Soyuz spacecraft, launch of which had to be cancelled. Presumably Cosmos 238 would have been renamed Soyuz 2 if the manned craft (which would have been called Soyuz 3) had reached orbit. [27]
Soyuz 2 October 25-28, 1968 Soyuz 3 October 26-30, 1968 Georgi Beregevoi
Crew code name—Argon
Soyuz 3 was the active craft for the docking with the unmanned Soyuz 2 craft. ”

“ The Block D fourth stage, with its restartable motor, was originally intended for use with the N-1 rocket as part of the manned lunar landing program. It burns kerosene and liquid oxygen. It would have inserted the L2 and L3 into lunar orbit and provided most of the DV for powered descent of the L3 to the lunar surface. The L1 used it for translunar injection. Launched under a modified Soyuz launch shroud. Launch escape system’s solid rocket motors smaller than those on the Soyuz shroud, in keeping with the lower mass it was designed to drag to safety. ”

“ Salyut 1 station with Soyuz about to dock The Almaz military station program was the first approved. When proposed in 1964, it had three parts: the Almaz military surveillance space station, Transport Logistics Spacecraft for delivering soldier-cosmonauts and cargo, and Proton rockets for launching both. All of these spacecraft were built, but none was used as originally planned. ”

“ March 2-10 Soyuz 28—Vladimir Remek (Czechoslovakia) becomes the first non-U.S., non-Soviet space traveler. Remek and Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Gubarev visit Salyut 6. This is the first flight in the Intercosmos program, which involved joint flights by Soviet cosmonauts and guest cosmonauts from countries with ties to the U.S.S.R. March 16 Soyuz 27 reentry—Grechko and Romanenko return to Earth after 96 days in space. This beats the 84-day space endurance record held by the U.S. Skylab 4 astronauts since early 1974. ”

“ Soyuz-T 5 • Salyut 7 • Soyuz-T 6 June 25-July 2, 1982 Garbage disposal, and the French assessment of Salyut 7. During the stay of the Soyuz-T 6 Visiting Expedition, the Elbrus gave visiting Frenchman Jean-Loup Chretien “the honor” of ejecting a satellite—Salyut 7’s weekly bag of waste—from the small trash airlock. In his diary, Lebedev quoted Chretien as saying Salyut 7 “is simple, doesn’t look impressive, but is reliable.” ”

“ Arrived at the Mir station carrying a three-man crew, including French cosmonaut Chretien on his second flight into space. Titov, Manarov, and Chretien returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-6. Alexander Volkov, Sergei Krikalev, and Valeri Polyakov remained aboard Mir. On April 28, 1989, they left Mir in mothballs and returned to Earth in Soyuz-TM 7. ”

“ Soyuz 34 was launched unmanned to replace Soyuz 32, which had exceeded its 90-day stay limit on May 27. Arrival of Progress 34 helped ensure that Ryumin and Lyakhov would be able to complete their mission. Soyuz 34 also tested improvements to the Soyuz main engine meant to prevent recurrence of the Soyuz 33 failure. The spacecraft delivered 200 kg of cargo. Soyuz 32 returned to Earth unmanned with a cargo of experiment results and malfunctioning Salyut 6 equipment. The equipment was of interest to space station engineers. ”

“ Several proposals for a joint manned mission were floated. For a time, an Apollo CSM docking with a Salyut space station held center stage. In April 1972, the sides met in Moscow to finalize the agreement for an Apollo-Salyut docking. The Soviets surprised the Americans by announcing that modifying a Salyut to include a second docking port for Apollo was neither technically nor economically feasible. They offered a Soyuz docking with Apollo instead. ”

“ Progress (figure 1-24) was an unmanned version of the Soyuz Ferry designed to perform logistics resupply of the Salyut 6, Salyut 7, and Mir space stations. Progress missions 1 through 12 carried supplies to Salyut 6. Missions 13 through 24 visited Salyut 7, as did the unusual Progress-related Cosmos 1669 mission. Progress missions 25 through 42 served the Mir station. The first 17 Progress missions to Mir delivered 40 tons of supplies, about double the station’s launch weight. Most Progress spacecraft functioned routinely, as expected of a logistics spacecraft. ”

“ During docking, cosmonauts aboard Mir noticed that three of the eight thermal blankets (layers of foil vacuum-shield insulation) on the descent module of the approaching Soyuz-TM 9 spacecraft had come loose from their attachments near the heat shield, yet remained attached at their top ends. The main concern was that the capsule might cool down, permitting condensation to form inside and short out its electrical systems. There was also fear that the blankets might block the infrared vertical sensor, which oriented the module for reentry. ”

“ Valeri Polyakov arrived on Mir on Soyuz-TM 18 in January 1994 and returned to Earth on Soyuz-TM 20 on March 21, 1995. He lived in orbit for more than 438 days, a new world record. Through 1994, 16 long-duration crews lived and worked on Mir. In all, 19 piloted craft have docked with the station. Cosmonaut-researchers from Afghanistan, Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, the European Space Agency, France, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Syria have visited Mir. European and French cosmonauts lived on Mir for as long as a month. ”

“ Equipment compartments lining the inside of the hull covered by removable panels that formed the station’s interior walls. The walls each had different colors (light and dark gray, apple green, light yellow) to aid the cosmonauts in orienting themselves in weightlessness. Large-diameter work compartment equipped with a large conical structure housing astronomical instruments and other scientific and guidance equipment. Cosmonauts slept in sleeping bags attached to the walls of the largediameter compartment, or in the orbital module of the docked Soyuz. ”