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 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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

as part of tests to attach scientific expansion modules to stations in Earth orbit. The module which docked to the station was the FGB component of a TKS vehicle launched on September 27, 1985, and was designed to test systems planned for use on the Mir Core Module. The spacecraft docked with Salyut 7 on October 2, 1985, during the long-duration stay of the cosmonauts of its fifth principal expedition, which arrived on Soyuz T-14. It was the last flown TKS spacecraft.

Notable features

* The spacecraft's

VA capsule 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 ...

was greatly modified to carry instruments – the retrorocket and parachute packages were replaced by scientific equipment, including an infrared telescope and the Ozon spectrometer. * The combined Salyut 7-Kosmos 1686 complex massed 43 tons, with Kosmos 1686 delivering 4500 kg of cargo to Salyut 7 and nearly doubling the amount of habitable volume available to the station's crew. * On August 19–22, 1986, ground controllers boosted the vacant Salyut 7-Kosmos 1686 complex to a 474 km by 492 km orbit using engines on Kosmos 1686. This reduced the propellant supply of the complex to 70 kg (about 500 kg were required for controlled deorbit). In addition, Kosmos 1686 and Salyut 7 each suffered major systems breakdowns soon after they were abandoned, making the complex impossible to control. * All previous space stations over which the Soviets maintained control were intentionally deorbited after their last cosmonaut crew departed. The Soviets estimated that the reboost gave the complex an 8-yr lifetime in orbit. They considered recovering the station using the Buran shuttle. However, following delays to and the eventual cancellation of the

Buran program The ''Buran'' program (russian: Буран, , "Snowstorm", "Blizzard"), also known as the "VKK Space Orbiter program" (russian: ВКК «Воздушно-Космический Корабль», lit=Air and Space Ship), was a Soviet Union, Sovi ...

, Kosmos 1686 underwent uncontrolled reentry with Salyut 7 on February 7, 1991, reentering over Argentina, scattering much of its debris over the town of

Capitan Bermudez Capitan and Kapitan are equivalents of the English Captain in other European languages. Capitan, Capitano, and Kapitan may also refer to: Places in the United States * Capitan, Louisiana, an unincorporated community *Capitan, New Mexico, a villag ...

.NYT, ''Salyut 7, Soviet Station in Space, Falls to Earth After 9-Year Orbit''
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References

{{Orbital launches in 1985 Salyut program Kosmos satellites 1985 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched in 1985