Kosmos-1669 (russian: Космос-1669, italic=yes) was a Progress spacecraft used to resupply the

Salyut 7 Salyut 7 (russian: Салют-7; en, Salute 7) (a.k.a. DOS-6, short for Durable Orbital Station) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first crewed in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last vi ...

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 ...

. It was a Progress 7K-TG spacecraft with the

serial number A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it. Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...

126.

Mission

Kosmos-1669 was launched by a Soyuz-U carrier rocket from Site 1/5 at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

, at 13:05 UTC on 19 July 1985. The spacecraft docked with the aft port of Salyut 7 at 15:05 UTC on 21 July 1985. Following undocking on 28 August 1985, it moved away from the station, before returning and redocking to test the reliability of the docking system. It undocked for a second time at 21:50 UTC, and was deorbited on 30 August 1985, with the spacecraft burning up over the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

at 01:20 UTC.

Salyut-7

Kosmos-1669 was the second cargo spacecraft (after

Progress 24 Progress 24 () was a Soviet uncrewed Progress cargo spacecraft, which was launched in June 1985 to resupply the Salyut 7 space station. Launch Progress 24 launched on 21 June 1985 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR. It used a Soy ...

) to visit Salyut 7 after its reactivation, and also the last Progress flight as part of the Salyut programme. It delivered new

spacesuit A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, ...

, to replace ones damaged by cold temperatures whilst Salyut 7 was deactivated, as well as replacement parts and consumables. This Progress mission was followed by one last cargo mission to Salyut 7, but carried out by an TKS spacecraft: TKS-4, which would become the fourth and last flight of an TKS spacecraft. The next following mission of a Progress cargo spacecraft, Progress 25, flew to Mir. As of 2009, Kosmos-1669 is the only Progress spacecraft to have received a Kosmos designation, which are usually reserved for military, experimental and failed spacecraft. It has been reported that this may have been an error due to confusion with a TKS spacecraft which later became

Kosmos 1686 Kosmos 1686 (russian: Космос 1686 meaning ''Cosmos 1686''), also known as TKS-4, was a heavily modified TKS spacecraft which docked unmanned to the Soviet space station Salyut 7 as part of tests to attach scientific expansion modules to sta ...

, or that the spacecraft may have gone out of control shortly after launch, but then been recovered after the Kosmos designation had been applied. Alternatively, it could have been given the designation as it was used to test modifications that would be used on future Progress missions. Some news agencies reported that it was a free-flying Progress-derived spacecraft, or that it was a new type of spacecraft derived from the Progress.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1985 Progress (spacecraft) missions 1985 in the Soviet Union 1985 in spaceflight Kosmos satellites Spacecraft launched in 1985

Mission

Salyut-7

See also

References