Salyut 3
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Salyut 3 (russian: Салют-3; en, Salute 3; also known as OPS-2 or Almaz 2Portree (1995).) was a
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 ...
launched on 25 June 1974. It was the second
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 an ...
military
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 ...
, and the first such station to be launched successfully. It was included in the
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 ...
program to disguise its true military nature.Hall and Shayer (2003). Due to the military nature of the station, the Soviet Union was reluctant to release information about its design, and about the missions relating to the station.Zimmerman (2003). It attained an altitude of 219 to 270 km on launchBond (2002). and NASA reported its final orbital altitude was 268 to 272 km. Only one of the three intended crews successfully boarded and manned the station, brought by Soyuz 14;
Soyuz 15 Soyuz 15 (russian: Союз 15, ''Union 15'') was an August, 1974, crewed space flight which was to have been the second mission to the Soviet Union's Salyut 3 space station with presumably military objectives. Launched 26 August 1974, the S ...
attempted to bring a second crew but failed to dock. Although little official information has been released about the station, several sources report that it contained multiple Earth-observation cameras, as well as an on-board gun. The station was deorbited, and re-entered the atmosphere on 24 January 1975. The next space station launched by the Soviet Union was the civilian station
Salyut 4 Salyut 4 (DOS 4) (russian: Салют-4; English translation: Salute 4) was a Salyut space station launched on December 26, 1974 into an orbit with an apogee of 355 km, a perigee of 343 km and an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees. It ...
; the next military station was
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 ...
, which was the final ''Almaz'' space station.


Background

The first
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 1 Salyut 1 (DOS-1) (russian: Салют-1) was the world's first space station launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The Salyut program followed this with five more successful launches of seven more stations. The fi ...
(also called ''DOS-1'') had been launched by the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in April 1971. Only one mission successfully docked with Salyut 1, which was
Soyuz 11 Soyuz 11 (russian: link=no, Союз 11, lit=Union 11) was the only crewed mission to board the world's first space station, Salyut 1 (Soyuz 10 had soft-docked, but had not been able to enter due to latching problems). The crew, Georgy Dobrov ...
, whose three-person crew stayed aboard the station for 22 days in June 1971. After undocking from the station, the Soyuz 11 crew were killed just before
reentry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the ...
. At the time there were competing "civilian" and pure military Soviet space programs; Salyut 1, for example, was developed as a "civilian" program. Other civilian stations, called Long-term Orbital Stations (DOS), were considered successors of Salyut 1. These consisted of the unsuccessful
DOS-2 DOS-2 designation given to a space station, launched as part of the Salyut programme, which was lost in a launch failure on 29 July 1972, when the failure of the second stage of its Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its ...
in 1972, DOS-3 in 1974, and later the successful
Salyut 4 Salyut 4 (DOS 4) (russian: Салют-4; English translation: Salute 4) was a Salyut space station launched on December 26, 1974 into an orbit with an apogee of 355 km, a perigee of 343 km and an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees. It ...
,
Salyut 6 Salyut 6 (russian: Салют-6; lit. Salute 6), DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme. It was launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket. Salyut 6 was the first space station to receiv ...
, and
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 ...
. The space stations funded and developed by the military, known as ''
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 an ...
'' stations, were roughly similar in size and shape to the civilian DOS stations. But the details of their design, which is attributed to
Vladimir Chelomey Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey or Chelomei (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Челоме́й; 30 June 1914 – 8 December 1984) was a Soviet engineer of Ukrainian ethnicity and designer in missile program of the former Sovie ...
, are considered to be significantly different from the DOS stations. The first Almaz station was
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 ...
, which launched in April 1973, but failed only days after reaching orbit, and hence it was never manned.


Description

Salyut 3 consisted of an airlock chamber, a large-diameter work compartment, and a small diameter living compartment, giving a total habitable volume of 90 m³. It had two solar arrays, one docking port, and two main engines, each of which could produce 400
kgf KGF or ''kgf'' may refer to: *Keratinocyte growth factor *King George's Fields, UK, recreation grounds *Kolar Gold Fields *The IATA code for Sary-Arka Airport, Karaganda, Kazakhstan * ''K.G.F'' (film series), Indian Kannada-language film series * ...
(3.9 kN) of thrust. Its launch mass was 18,900 kg. The station came equipped with a shower, a standing sleeping station, as well as a foldaway bed. The floor was covered with
Velcro Velcro, officially known as Velcro IP Holdings LLC and trading as Velcro Companies, is a British privately held company, founded by Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral in the 1950s. It is the original manufacturer of hook-and-loop fasten ...
to assist the cosmonauts moving around the station. Some entertainment on the station included a
magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...
ic
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
set, a small library, and a
cassette deck A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part of a ...
with some audio cassette tapes. Exercise equipment included a treadmill and
Pingvin exercise suit The Pingvin exercise suit (also ''Penguin suit'') is a Russian anti-zero-G suit to be worn during spaceflight, designed to mimic the effects of gravity on the body, thus counteracting the loss of bone and muscle in weightlessness. The suit has elas ...
. The first water-recycling facilities were tested on the station; the system was called Priboy.


Earth-observation cameras

The work compartment was dominated by the ''Agat-1'' Earth-observation telescope, which had a
focal length The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system converges light, while a negative foca ...
of 6.375 metres and an
optical resolution Optical resolution describes the ability of an imaging system to resolve detail, in the object that is being imaged. An imaging system may have many individual components, including one or more lenses, and/or recording and display components. ...
better than three metres, according to post-Soviet sources; NASA historian Siddiqi has speculated that given the size of the telescope's mirror, it likely had a resolution better than one metre. The telescope was used in conjunction with a wide-film camera, and was used primarily for military reconnaissance purposes. The cosmonauts are said to have observed targets set out on the ground at Baikonur. Secondary objectives included study of water pollution, agricultural land, possible ore-bearing landforms, and oceanic ice formation.Portree, p.69 The cosmonauts were able to develop film while on the station. Important or interesting images were printed, and then scanned by a TV imaging system for broadcast to Earth. They needed as little as 30 minutes to shoot, develop, and scan a photograph. Less important images were packed into a small Earth-return capsule, which could be ejected from the station. In addition to the Agat-1 camera, other cameras on board included a topographical camera, a star camera, and a Volga infrared camera with a resolution of 100 metres. Cosmonaut
Pavel Popovich Pavel Romanovich Popovich (russian: Па́вел Рома́нович Попо́вич, uk, Павло Романович Попович, Pavlo Romanovych Popovych) (5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009) was a Soviet cosmonaut. Popovich was the ...
, who visited the station as the commander of Soyuz 14, recalled that the station was equipped with 14 cameras.


On-board gun

The Salyut 3, although called a "civilian" station, was equipped with a "self-defence" gun which had been designed for use aboard the station, and whose design is attributed to
Alexander Nudelman Alexander Emmanuilovich Nudelman ( rus, Александр Эммануилович Нудельман; 21 August 1912  in Odessa – 2 August 1996 in Moscow) was a Soviet weapon designer and researcher. Numerous weapon systems were created ...
. Some accounts claim the station was equipped with a Nudelman-Rikhter "Vulkan" gun, which was a variant of the 23 mm Nudelman aircraft cannon, or possibly a Nudelman NR-30 30 mm gun.James Olberg, ''Space Power Theory'', Ch. 2
/ref> Later Russian sources indicate that the gun was the virtually unknown (in the West)
Rikhter R-23 The Rikhter R-23 is an aircraft autocannon developed for the Soviet Air Force starting in the late 1950s. It was designed to be as short as possible to avoid problems found on high-speed aircraft when the guns were pointed into the airstream. The ...
.Широкоград А.Б. (2001) ''История авиационного вооружения'' Харвест (Shirokograd A.B. (2001) ''Istorya aviatsionnogo vooruzhenia'' Harvest. ) (''History of aircraft armament'') p. 162 These claims have reportedly been verified by
Pavel Popovich Pavel Romanovich Popovich (russian: Па́вел Рома́нович Попо́вич, uk, Павло Романович Попович, Pavlo Romanovych Popovych) (5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009) was a Soviet cosmonaut. Popovich was the ...
, who had visited the station in orbit, as commander of Soyuz 14. Due to potential shaking of the station, in-orbit tests of the weapon with cosmonauts in the station were ruled out. The gun was fixed to the station in such a way that the only way to aim would have been to change the orientation of the entire station. Following the last manned mission to the station, the gun was commanded by the ground to be fired; some sources say it was fired to depletion, while other sources say three test firings took place during the Salyut 3 mission.


Station operations

Only one manned spacecraft, Soyuz 14, docked with Salyut 3. One other spacecraft,
Soyuz 15 Soyuz 15 (russian: Союз 15, ''Union 15'') was an August, 1974, crewed space flight which was to have been the second mission to the Soviet Union's Salyut 3 space station with presumably military objectives. Launched 26 August 1974, the S ...
, came within 40 metres of the station, but failed to dock due to a malfunctioning rendezvous system.


Launch

The station was launched on 25 June 1974 by a three-stage Proton launch vehicle. Salyut 3 was the first space station to maintain its constant orientation relative to the Earth's surface. To achieve that, as many as 500,000 firings of the attitude control thrusters had been performed. Its initial orbit was 219 km by 270 km
above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...
, which was considered low. The suspicions of Western observers were raised by the low altitude, combined with the choice of crew from the Soviet Air Force, and the use of radio frequencies normally designated for military use.


Soyuz 14

On 4 July, a little over a week after Salyut 3 was launched, the manned spacecraft Soyuz 14 docked with the station, having been launched the previous day. The crew of Soyuz 14 consisted of commander
Pavel Popovich Pavel Romanovich Popovich (russian: Па́вел Рома́нович Попо́вич, uk, Павло Романович Попович, Pavlo Romanovych Popovych) (5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009) was a Soviet cosmonaut. Popovich was the ...
and flight engineer
Yury Artyukhin Yuri Petrovich Artyukhin (russian: Ю́рий Петро́вич Артю́хин; 22 June 1930 – 4 August 1998) was a Soviet Russian cosmonaut and engineer who made a single flight into space. Artyukhin graduated from the Soviet Air Force Ins ...
. The crew spent 15 days aboard the station. On 9 July, it was reported that the crew activated the Earth-observation cameras, and spent several days taking photos of various locations, including central Asia. They placed some film in the Earth return capsule. After undocking, Soyuz 14 safely landed on 19 July.


Soyuz 15

The spacecraft
Soyuz 15 Soyuz 15 (russian: Союз 15, ''Union 15'') was an August, 1974, crewed space flight which was to have been the second mission to the Soviet Union's Salyut 3 space station with presumably military objectives. Launched 26 August 1974, the S ...
was launched on 26 August 1974, carrying a two-man crew consisting of commander
Gennadi Sarafanov Gennady Vasiliyevich Sarafanov (; 1 January 1942 – 29 September 2005) was a Soviet Union, Soviet astronaut, cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 15 spaceflight in 1974. This mission was intended to dock with the space station Salyut 3, but failed ...
and flight engineer Lev Demin. They were intended to be the second crew to man Salyut 3, but they failed to dock, after their Igla rendezvous system on their Soyuz spacecraft malfunctioned, and they were unable to manually dock.Portree, p. 27 Due to the limited battery life of their Soyuz spacecraft, they deorbited and landed two days after launch. At the time of the spaceflight, Demin was 48 years old, earning him the record for the oldest person to fly in space up to that point. This record was broken the following year, with
Deke Slayton Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was a United States Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, and test pilot who was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts. He went on to become NASA's first ...
's spaceflight as a part of the
Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as a United States Apollo spacecraft docked ...
.


Unmanned operations

Following the failed docking of Soyuz 15, it was decided that the Igla docking system needed significant modifications. Due to the amount of time needed to make the changes, and the limited time Salyut 3 had left in orbit due to orbital decay, the next planned mission to the station was cancelled. The spacecraft which would have been used on the third mission to Salyut 3 was later used for the mission
Soyuz 20 Soyuz 20 (russian: Союз 20, Union 20) was an unmanned spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 170 ...
to
Salyut 4 Salyut 4 (DOS 4) (russian: Салют-4; English translation: Salute 4) was a Salyut space station launched on December 26, 1974 into an orbit with an apogee of 355 km, a perigee of 343 km and an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees. It ...
(a civilian space station). Following this decision, on 23 September 1974, the station's Earth return capsule was released. The ejected capsule was deorbited by small engines. NASA sources report that the parachute of Salyut 3's capsule opened at an altitude of 8.4 km. Other sources say the main parachute did not open, and the capsule was deformed upon landing, but that all the film was recoverable. Also following the decision to not send any more cosmonauts to the station, the on-board gun was commanded by the ground to be fired; some sources say it was fired to depletion, while other sources say three test firings took place at the end of the mission. The station was deorbited on 24 January 1975 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 ...
.


See also

*
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 ...


Notes


References

* SP-2000-4408
Part 2 (page 1-499)Part 1 (page 500-1011)
* * * * *


External links


Soviet Space Stations as Analogs - NASA report (PDF format)
{{Orbital launches in 1974 Salyut program 1974 in the Soviet Union 1974 in spaceflight Space weapons Crewed spacecraft Soviet military spacecraft Almaz program Spacecraft launched in 1974 Spacecraft which reentered in 1975 de:Saljut#Saljut 3 (Almas 2)