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 Kosmos 186 (russian: Космос-186 meaning ''Cosmos 186'') and Kosmos 188 (russian: Космос-188 meaning ''Cosmos 188'') were two uncrewed Soviet Union spacecraft that incorporated a Soyuz programme descent module for landing scientific ...

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 Soyuz 7K-OKS (also known as Soyuz 7KT-OK) is a version of the Soyuz spacecraft and was the first spacecraft designed for space station flights. Its only crewed flights were conducted in 1971, with Soyuz 10 and Soyuz 11. Design The two craft ...

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 140 Kosmos 140 (russian: Космос 140 meaning ''Cosmos 140''), Soyuz 7K-OK No.3, was an uncrewed flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. It was the third attempted test flight of the Soyuz 7K-OK model, after orbital (Kosmos 133) and launch (List of R-7 ...

, the first uncrewed automated docking in the history of spaceflight. *

Kosmos 212 Kosmos 212 (russian: Космос 212 meaning ''Cosmos 212'') was one of a series of Soviet Soyuz programme test spacecraft whose purpose was to further test and develop the passenger version. Scientific data and measurements were relayed to eart ...

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 Soyuz 3 (russian: Союз 3, ''Union 3'') was a spaceflight mission launched by the Soviet Union on 26 October 1968. Flown by Georgy Beregovoy, the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft completed 81 orbits over four days. The 47-year-old Beregovoy was a dec ...

Crewed missions

* Soyuz 1, the first crewed Soyuz flight, commander and sole crew-member killed on re-entry. *

* 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 Soyuz 7 (russian: Союз 7, ''Union 7'') was part of an October, 1969, joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts. The crew consisted of ...

and

Soyuz 8 Soyuz 8 (russian: Союз 8, ''Union 8'') was part of an October, 1969, joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 7 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts. The crew consisted of c ...

: Intended docking, to be filmed by Soyuz 6 crew – docking failed due to malfunction. *

* 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