Soyuz 7K-OK was the first generation of
Soyuz spacecraft and was flown between 1967 and 1971.
[ ] The 7K-OK was used for the first ferry flights to the
Salyut space station program, beginning a long history of space station service that continues today with the
International Space Station (ISS).
, the 7K-OK is notable for the only fatalities of the
Soyuz programme, with
Soyuz 1 in 1967 (sole crew-member killed by parachute failure) and
Soyuz 11 in 1971 (three crew killed by depressurisation during reentry).
The first uncrewed automated docking in the history of spaceflight was achieved between 7K-OK spacecraft
Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188 in 1967. Additionally firsts include the first docking between two crewed spacecraft (
Soyuz 4 and
Soyuz 5), the longest crewed flight involving only one spacecraft (the 18-day flight of
Soyuz 9
Soyuz 9 (russian: Союз 9, ''Union 9'') was a June, 1970, Soviet crewed space flight. The two-man crew of Andriyan Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov broke the five-year-old space endurance record held by Gemini 7, with their nearly 18-day fl ...
in 1970), and the first successful transfer of crew to the first space station in the history of space flight (
Soyuz 11 and
Salyut 1 in 1971).
Description
The Soyuz 7K-OK vehicles carried a crew of up to three without
space suits. The craft can be distinguished from those following by their bent
solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
s and their use of the
Igla automatic docking navigation system, which required special radar antennas.
The 7K-OK was primarily intended as a variant of the 7K-LOK (the lunar mission Soyuz) for Earth orbital testing. Mostly the same vehicle, it lacked the larger antenna needed to communicate at lunar distance. The early Soyuz models also sported an external toroidal fuel tank surrounding the engines and meant to store extra propellant for lunar flights, but it was left empty on the first nine flights. After the spacecraft's purpose was changed to space station ferry duties, the tank was removed.
Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft had a
"probe and drogue" docking mechanism to connect with other spacecraft in orbit, in order to gather engineering data as a preparation for the Soviet space station program. There were two variants of Soyuz 7K-OK: Soyuz 7K-OK (active) featuring an active "probe" docking port, and Soyuz 7K-OK (passive) featuring a passive "drogue" docking target. The docking mechanisms of 7K-OK and 7K-LOK did not allow internal transfer (this feature was added on the
Soyuz 7K-OKS version), thus cosmonauts had to spacewalk between docked modules. This procedure was conducted successfully on the joint
Soyuz 4 and
Soyuz 5 missions, where
Aleksei Yeliseyev and
Yevgeny Khrunov transferred from their Soyuz 5 to the Soyuz 4 craft.
The first uncrewed test of this version was
Kosmos 133
Kosmos 133 (russian: Космос 133, meaning "Kosmos 133"), Soyuz 7K-OK No.2, was the first uncrewed test flight of the Soyuz spacecraft, and first mission of the Soyuz programme, as part of the Soviet space programme.
Launch
Launched fro ...
, launched on 28 November 1966.
Soyuz 7K-OKS
The last two Soyuz space craft of this series were of the designation Soyuz 7K-OKS. The main modification was the addition of the new
SSVP docking system that allowed internal crew transfer, which was performed for the first time on the
Salyut 1 space station by
Soyuz 11. The SSVP docking adapter is still in use today on the
International Space Station (ISS).
Uncrewed and test missions
*
Kosmos 133
Kosmos 133 (russian: Космос 133, meaning "Kosmos 133"), Soyuz 7K-OK No.2, was the first uncrewed test flight of the Soyuz spacecraft, and first mission of the Soyuz programme, as part of the Soviet space programme.
Launch
Launched fro ...
*
Kosmos 140
*
Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188, the first uncrewed automated docking in the history of spaceflight.
*
Kosmos 212 and
Kosmos 213, uncrewed automated docking mission.
*
Kosmos 238 Kosmos 238 (russian: Космос 238 meaning ''Cosmos 238'') was the final test series of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft prior to the launch of Soyuz 2. It tested the orbital maneuvering system, reentry, descent and landing systems that had been modif ...
*
Soyuz 2, intended docking target for the crewed
Soyuz 3.
Crewed missions
*
Soyuz 1, the first crewed Soyuz flight, commander and sole crew-member killed on re-entry.
*
Soyuz 3
*
Soyuz 4 and
Soyuz 5, the first crewed docking and first crew transfer in the history of spaceflight.
*
Soyuz 6
Soyuz 6 (russian: Союз 6, ''Union 6'') was part of a joint October, 1969, mission with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 that saw the three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts. The crew of Georgy Sh ...
*
Soyuz 7 and
Soyuz 8: Intended docking, to be filmed by Soyuz 6 crew – docking failed due to malfunction.
*
Soyuz 9
Soyuz 9 (russian: Союз 9, ''Union 9'') was a June, 1970, Soviet crewed space flight. The two-man crew of Andriyan Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov broke the five-year-old space endurance record held by Gemini 7, with their nearly 18-day fl ...
*
Soyuz 10 (Soyuz 7K-OKS),
Salyut 1 ferry, the first docking attempt to a space station in the history of spaceflight.
*
Soyuz 11 (Soyuz 7K-OKS), Salyut 1 ferry, the first crewing of a space station in the history of spaceflight – crew killed on re-entry.
References
External links
Russia New Russian spaceship will be able to fly to Moon - space corp* Mir Hardware Heritage
** David S.F. Portree,
', NASA RP-1357, 1995
**
Mir Hardware Heritage (wikisource)
Information on Soyuz spacecraft
{{Russian human spaceflight programs
Crewed spacecraft
Soyuz program
Vehicles introduced in 1966