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The Functional Cargo Block or FGB (from the Russian ', ',
GRAU
The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...
index 11F77) was part of the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
TKS spacecraft
The TKS spacecraft (russian: Транспортный корабль снабжения, , ''Transport Supply Spacecraft'', GRAU index 11F72) was a Soviet spacecraft conceived in the late 1960s for resupply flights to the military Almaz space s ...
. The TKS spacecraft was intended to be used as a resupply craft for
Almaz
The Almaz (russian: Алмаз, lit=Diamond) program was a highly secret Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s.
Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 a ...
space stations and saw some test flights in the
Salyut space station program. The TKS spacecraft was formed by mating a FGB with a
VA spacecraft
The Vozvraschaemyi Apparat (russian: Возвращаемый Аппарат, lit=Return Vehicle, GRAU index 11F74), or VA spacecraft, was a Soviet crew capsule, intended to serve as a crewed launch and reentry vehicle. Initially designed for t ...
, with both the VA and the FGB being capable of independent operation.
Following the development of the FGB for the TKS spacecraft, the FGB (without VA spacecraft) formed the basis for
space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
modules in the Soviet and Russian space program – these space station modules are to some extent called Functional Cargo Block (FGB) as well, like the
Zarya FGB module.
The FGB provides "functional" support in the form of electrical power, propulsion, guidance and docking; The support for "cargo" operations is supplied in the form of a pressurized habitable cargo storage section (accessible by the crew) and the externally mounted fuel tanks.
History
The Functional Cargo Block (FGB) was originally developed as support for the
VA spacecraft
The Vozvraschaemyi Apparat (russian: Возвращаемый Аппарат, lit=Return Vehicle, GRAU index 11F74), or VA spacecraft, was a Soviet crew capsule, intended to serve as a crewed launch and reentry vehicle. Initially designed for t ...
– with both together forming the
TKS spacecraft
The TKS spacecraft (russian: Транспортный корабль снабжения, , ''Transport Supply Spacecraft'', GRAU index 11F72) was a Soviet spacecraft conceived in the late 1960s for resupply flights to the military Almaz space s ...
, intended for resupply flights to the
Almaz
The Almaz (russian: Алмаз, lit=Diamond) program was a highly secret Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s.
Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 a ...
space stations. For
Salyut
The ''Salyut'' programme (russian: Салют, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed ...
space station modules, it was initially intended that the first such modules be derived from the
Progress spacecraft
The Progress (russian: Прогресс) is a Russian expendable cargo spacecraft. Its purpose is to deliver the supplies needed to sustain a human presence in orbit. While it does not carry a crew, it can be boarded by astronauts when docked t ...
(which in turn is a
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz () is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraf ...
derivate), and not the FGB. As the Almaz program wound down, TKS test missions to Salyut stations were used to gather experience on docking larger modules to space stations. The TKS flights proved that the FGBs could form the basis of such a space station module, with the TKS being flight ready, and having a considerable larger capacity than the Progress – so the FGB and not the Progress became the basis of many Soviet and Russian space station modules.
The Gamma observatory, the initially intended first Progress-based research module, would become after these and other changes the free-flying
Gamma satellite.
Design
The basic layout of the exemplary
Zarya FGB consists of two sections:
* The Instrumentation and Cargo Compartment (ICC) with a pressurized volume of
* The Pressurized Adapter (PA) with a pressurized volume of
The PA is separated from the ICC by a spherical bulkhead containing an 800 mm hatch. Both pressurized sections contain working and living areas, in addition to instrumentation separated by interior panels.
Functional Cargo Blocks
FGB based spacecraft include in addition to the original
TKS spacecraft
The TKS spacecraft (russian: Транспортный корабль снабжения, , ''Transport Supply Spacecraft'', GRAU index 11F72) was a Soviet spacecraft conceived in the late 1960s for resupply flights to the military Almaz space s ...
:
[B. Hendrickx, "The Origins and Evolution of the Energiya Rocket Family," ''J. British Interplanetary Soc., Vol. 55,'' pp. 242-278 (2002).]
*Salyut 2
Salyut 2 (OPS-1) (russian: Салют-2 meaning ''Salute 2'') was a Soviet space station which was launched in 1973 as part of the Salyut programme. It was the first Almaz military space station to fly. Within two weeks of its launch, the statio ...
*Salyut 3
Salyut 3 (russian: Салют-3; en, Salute 3; also known as OPS-2 or Almaz 2Portree (1995).) was a Soviet space station launched on 25 June 1974. It was the second Almaz military space station, and the first such station to be launched successf ...
*Salyut 5
Salyut 5 (russian: Салют-5 meaning ''Salute 5''), also known as OPS-3, was a Soviet space station. Launched in 1976 as part of the Salyut programme, it was the third and last Almaz space station to be launched for the Soviet military. Two Soy ...
* Polyus spacecraft
*Kvant-1
Kvant-1 (russian: Квант-1; English: Quantum-I/1) (37KE) was the first module to be attached in 1987 to the Mir Core Module, which formed the core of the Soviet space station ''Mir''. It remained attached to ''Mir'' until the entire space stat ...
(Mir
''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...
module)
*Kvant-2
Kvant-2 (russian: Квант-2; English: Quantum-II/2) (77KSD, TsM-D, 11F77D) was the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station. Its primary purpose was to deliver new science experiments, better life support systems, and an ...
(Mir module)
*Kristall
The Kristall (russian: Кристалл, , Crystal) (77KST, TsM-T, 11F77T) module was the fourth module and the third major addition to ''Mir''. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K (TKS) module, and was originally na ...
(Mir module)
*Spektr
Spektr (russian: Спектр; en, Spectrum) (TKM-O, 77KSO, 11F77O) was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment. Sp ...
(Mir module)
*Priroda
The Priroda (russian: Природа; en, Nature) (TsM-I, 77KSI, 11F77I) module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and ...
(Mir module)
* Zarya (ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...
module)
* Nauka (ISS module)
References
{{Salyut Program
Russian components of the International Space Station