[FPSPACE] Khrunichev's history photo archive

[Rex Hall]

It is also a book if you can get a copy.
Regards
Rex

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From: fpspace-bounces at friends-partners.org
[mailto:fpspace-bounces at friends-partners.org] On Behalf Of Jim Oberg
Sent: 22 February 2007 21:38
To: fpspace at friends-partners.org
Subject: [FPSPACE] Khrunichev's history photo archive

Khrunichev's history photo archive


NK (Zheleznyakov) notes a new history archive at 
http://www.khrunichev.ru/, specifically the six pdf files 
labeled 'foto' (with 'phi' for 'f', for non-cyrillic readers). 
Thank you, Aleksandr!!

The images on these six big pdf files are awesome -- give
yourself several hours to browse through them and copy down
the ones you want to keep. But note -- NO interior or fabrication
images of the Polyus-Skif vehicle, even though it is discussed.

Captions and text are in Russian and English.

Here's the full text of the manned space station section, for discussion.
Several eye-opening claims, including that the loss of Salyut-7 was
due to a Mission Control Center human error.

---

First Manned Space Stations  

   In developing the domestic missiles and spacecraft, there were some
priorities gradually shaped in allocating technical assignments among major
Russian scientific, design and production organizations and enterprises.
Specifically, starting from the mid-1960s, the Khrunichev Plant (later the
Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center) built the Almaz and
Mir space stations, all heavy modules designed to dock with spacecraft in
orbit, and threeseat recoverable vehicles. The same enterprise also
manufactured Russian elements of the ISS, Zarya and Zvezda. While involved
in one of the first piloted Russian space programs, the Khrunichev Plant
made the Almaz space complex, which Academician V.N. Chelomei proposed to
develop at the end of 1964.
   The complex was ordered by the Defense Ministry and designed for
communications and image intelligence collection, preliminary analysis by
the crew and subsequent forwarding to the Earth. The duration of the complex
operation in orbit and effectiveness of the mission solution depended on its
power capacity and replenishment, crew delivery and rotation, the needed
supplies and ability to operate both in piloted and automatic modes.
   The Khrunichev Plant was specifically picked up as the basis for
implementing this complicated large-scale project. The high production and
technical potential had already allowed it to manufacture Tupolev and
Myasishchev aircraft, as well as the UR-100, UR-200 and UR-500 missiles.
That is why in 1969 it was tasked to build Almaz stations and Transport
Supply Spacecraft (TKS) - sophisticated 20-ton manned spacecraft.
   Under the project, once docked with the Almaz, the TKS should supply
power and provide orientation and control of the complex for a long time, as
well as lift it to a higher orbit. The TKS was made up of two independent
modules - a functional cargo block (FGB) and a return vehicle (RV).
   By early 1970, the plant made frame structures for eight test and two
flight orbital stations, but their furnishing with instruments and systems,
as well as their full-scale development testing and manufacture was delayed.
Therefore the national leadership decreed that the technological
achievements made under the Almaz project be used to develop Salyut orbital
stations, which would be fitted with systems from manned spacecraft that
were already being built by the Korolev design bureau. Cosmonauts and
supplies would be delivered by the proven Soyuz spacecraft.
   The strenuous efforts by all workers of the space industry made it
possible to launch the world's first Salyut long-duration orbital station
(DOS-1), using the Proton launch vehicle, on April 19, 1971. This date  is
considered the birthday of orbital stations. Thus, the Soviet Union retained
its superiority in manned exploration of outer space.
   On April 23, 1971, the Soyuz-10 manned spacecraft flew to the station,
but it failed to dock with the station, and two days later cosmonauts V.A.
Shatalov, A.S. Yeliseyev and N.N. Rukavishnikov returned to the Earth.
Another manned spacecraft, Soyuz-11, docked to the station in June 1971. The
two docked spacecraft flew together for three weeks, but during the return
to the Earth the Soyuz-11 crew of G.T. Dobrovolsky, V.N. Volkov and V.I.
Patsayev died because of a sudden loss of cabin pressure in the Soyuz. The
orbital station continued to function unmanned until October 11, 1971, when
it was deorbited and sank in the ocean.
   In July 1972, another station, the DOS-2, was launched, but the mission
failed because of the malfunctioning of the Proton launch vehicle.
   In May 1973, the DOS-3 (Kosmos-557 satellite) was lifted into orbit, but
orientation faults forced a decision to bring it down.
   In the meantime, the construction of the Almaz manned orbital station and
the TKS were underway, albeit at a different pace. This was due to the fact
that the TKS was an absolutely novel spacecraft that was superior to both
Soyuz and Almaz in terms of capabilities and equipment. That was why it was
decided to bring crews to the Almaz station by Soyuz spacecraft, until the
TKS was made.
   An essential part of the TKS was a three-seat return vehicle (RV).
Chelomei ordered the Fili branch of the Central Design Bureau of
Machine-Building to make RV frame structures, thermal protection and life
support systems, automatic systems, docking mechanisms, and other units. The
return vehicle was intended to deliver and retrieve crews from the station
to the Earth and was to be capable of making up to ten missions upon the
restoration of its thermal protective shell.
   For reliability testing, the Fili branch built a masssize evaluation
model (LVI) - a full analog of the TKS.
   Full-scale tests of an emergency recovery system and the RV were
conducted on Site 51 of the Baikonur cosmodrome. Between 1974 and 1977, five
launches were carried out. During the testing, all elements of the
separation system functioned well, in accordance with the launch sequence.
After the RV went up to an altitude of 2 km, an extraction parachute was
actuated, followed by a drogue parachute, with three landing parachutes
released thereafter. All the five launches were a success.
   The first launch of the RV (LVI-1) was made by the Proton LV in December
1976. Two spacecraft made a single revolution and landed in a designated
area. Several successful launches were carried out, with one of the RVs used
for three missions to space and backward.
   The first TKS of the Almaz complex, designated Kosmos-929, was launched
on July 17, 1977. A month later, a return vehicle left the spacecraft and
landed normally on the landing range. After successfully fulfilling the
program, the Kosmos-929 terminated the free flight on February 3, 1978. Then
it was decided to close the Almaz manned flight program and subsequently use
the return vehicle only for retrieving cargoes from space.
   The first launch of the Almaz under the Salyut program was made on April
3, 1973. The station was named Salyut-2, although it was different from the
first version of the first Salyut (DOS-1) in many respects (the DOS-2,
launched on July 29, 1972, did not enter the orbit because of a failure in
the launch vehicle and therefore was given no designation).
   On the 13th day of the autonomous flight, after the readiness of all
systems had been tested, the space station depressurized, and on April 28
the station was deorbited.
   The next station, Salyut-3, launched on June 25, 1974, was more
successful. In July, a launch vehicle brought a crew of P.R. Popovich and
Yu.P. Artyukhin to the station, who carried out the flight mission
successfully. They took pictures in flight, and the film was taken in a
special capsule to the Earth by means of a technological camera used for
information retrieval.
   The cosmonauts returned to the Earth on July 19, while on September 23
the return vehicle with the collected information was retrieved from the
station on command from the Earth and landed in a preset area.
   According to the scheduled program, the Salyut-3 flight continued for
seven months, after which the station was brought down on January 24, 1975.
   On December 26, 1974, the Salyut-4 (DOS-4) was lifted into orbit, where
it operated successfully for a long period of time, performing scientific
and other tasks.
   The results of the flights of the Almaz and DOS stations, which carried
out different missions but which were given in public the same name, Salyut,
in case of their successful launch, provided specialists with invaluable
experience and important scientific information.
   Another manned orbital station, Salyut-5, was launched on June 22, 1976,
and operated until August 8, 1977. Three crews flew to visit it,
specifically B.V. Volynov and V.M. Zholobov (joint flight from July 6 to
August 24, 1976), V.D. Zudov and V.I. Rozhdestvensky (they failed to dock
with the station), V.V. Gorbatko and Yu.N. Glazkov (joint flight between
February 7 and 25, 1977).
   The RV carrying the research information aboard returned to the Earth on
February 26, 1977, and the station was deorbited on August 8, 1977.
   The next, upgraded version of an orbital station, Salyut-6, had two types
of docking units allowing for docking not only with the Soyuz and Progress
spacecraft, but also with Transport Supply Spacecraft (TKS) that had already
been made by the Khrunichev Plant and that were undergoing trials. The
station was launched on September 29, 1977.
   The manufacture of the TKS, a 20-ton manned spacecraft composed of a
functional cargo block  (FGB) and a return vehicle (RV), required strenuous
efforts from the plant and numerous basically new design, engineering and
technological solutions for both the FGB and the RV. Unique testing
facilities, built at the Khrunichev Plant and many other related
organizations, made it possible to develop and test-run a unique spacecraft.
The solutions found at the Salyut Design Bureau at the time were later
widely used in developing the Mir space complex and the ISS.
   The first TKS, codenamed Kosmos-929, comprising the FGB and the RV, was
put into orbit by the Proton LV under a development flight test program on
July 17, 1977. The orbital flight continued for 30 days, after which, on
August 17, the RV was separated and brought down on command from the Earth,
whereas the FGB continued flying for another 211 days. During the flight,
specialists checked the working efficiency of the spacecraft systems,
carried out technical experiments, tested the RV and its return to the
Earth, tested the FGB in unmanned flight, and carried out its controlled
descent to the ocean in a designated area on February 3, 1978.
   The TKS testing enabled full-scale implementation of the Almaz project,
the way it was conceived in the 1960s. However, the national leadership made
a decision to give up this project in favor of the DOS program, thereby
reorienting the already ready-made TKSs to work with the Salyut-6 and
Salyut-7 stations.
   The second-generation long-duration orbital station, Salyut-6, was placed
into orbit on September 29, 1977, and operated successfully for almost five
years. On April 25, 1981, the TKS-2 (Kosmos-1267) was launched toward the
station. After a test flight and separation of the RV for descent, the FGB
of the TKS successfully docked with Salyut-6 on June 19, 1981, assumed
control of the 40-ton orbital complex and a year later, on June 29, 1982,
helped deorbit it.
   On December 19, 1981, during the joint flight of the Salyut-6 and
Kosmos-1267 (TKS-2), a decision was made to terminate the Almaz program and
continue TKS tests in accordance with the Salyut program.
   On April 19, 1982, the most advanced station of the DOS series, Salyut-7,
was launched. On March 2, 1983, another TKS (Kosmos-1443) was lifted into
orbit.
   Eight days later, it docked with the station and delivered around 4,000
kg of payload, including 500 kg aboard the RV. Cosmonauts V.Ya. Lyakhov and
A.A. Aleksandrov not only unloaded the TKS, but loaded into the RV
containers with research materials, instruments and pieces of hardware that
had worked in space for a long time.
   The joint flight of the TKS and the DOS-7 continued for more than 5
months, during which the TKS (by means of the FGB) controlled the entire
complex. The TKS undocked from Salyut-7 on August 14, 1983. After that, the
spacecraft remained in free flight for 10 days. On August 23, the RV was
separated from the FGB and brought  down to the Earth, carrying 350 kg of
scientific cargoes. On September 19, 1983, the FGB was sunk at the
designated area on command from the Earth, whereas the station continued to
fly.
   Another TKS (Kosmos-1686) was ready for a rendezvous with the Salyut-7
for more than just a supply mission. It was supposed to carry the Pion-K
optoelectronic reconnaissance complex for surveillance over ground and
sea-based facilities.
   However, on February 11, 1985, an error made by the Mission Control
Center led to a loss of communication with the unmanned Salyut-7.
   As a result, the station's automatic systems failed, the recharging of
the buffer batteries stopped, and the onboard systems deenergized and
switched off. To rescue the station and the entire program, a special
expedition including V.A. Dzhanibekov and V.P. Savinykh was sent to the
Salyut-7 aboard the Soyuz T-13 spacecraft. On June 8, 1985, the spacecraft
docked with the frozen Salyut-7, and within a month the cosmonauts did the
impossible - they brought the station back to life and restored the
performance of the systems.
   In the second half of September 1985, the crew was partially replaced. On
September 17, V.V. Vasyutin, G.M. Grechko and A.A. Volkov arrived at the
station aboard the Soyuz T-14, and on September 25 V.A. Dzhanibekov and G.M.
Grechko returned to the Earth aboard the Soyuz T-13. V.V. Vasyutin, V.P.
Savinykh and A.A. Volkov continued to work on the station.
   The next TKS, named Kosmos-1686, was placed into orbit by Proton LV on
September 27, 1986, and docked with the Salyut-7 on October 2. It carried
special equipment and expendable materials weighing more than 4,300 kg,
including 1,255 kg of scientific equipment. Its tanks accommodated over 1.5
tons of fuel needed to sustain the station in orbit, its orientation and
stabilization. The TKS significantly improved the performance of the
station's electric power system.
   However, an illness of flight commander V.V. Vasyutin forced the basic
expedition to reduce their work aboard the station and return to the Earth
ahead of schedule, on November 21.
   Still the Salyut-7 operation did not stop there. At the time, the Mir
first manned orbital complex started to function in space. On May 6, 1986,
cosmonauts L.D. Kizim and V.A. Solovyov transferred in the Soyuz T-15
spacecraft from the Mir to the Salyut-7.
   They completed some of the previously planned experiments, performed
spacewalks to work with the Mayak truss, mothballed the Salyut-7 and flew
back to the Mir. That was the first operation of this kind ever carried out
in space.
   Later it was decided to move the Salyut-7 - Kosmos-1686 complex to a
different (storage) orbit, and on August 28, 1986, the propulsion unit of
the TKS helped lift the complex to an altitude of 450 km.
   During the flight in the storage orbit, specialists conducted endurance
tests of assemblies and systems  and carried out scientific experiments. The
control was exercised from the Mission Control Center near the city of
Yevpatoria. The Center even considered a possibility of returning some of
the complex elements to the Earth aboard the Buran spacecraft.
   However, in December 1989, the TKS power system failed, and in 1990 a
peak in the solar activity led to a sharp slowdown of the station. That was
why on February 7, 1991, there occurred an uncontrolled deorbiting of the
Salyut-7 - Kosmos-1686 complex, and it ceased to exist.
   After the Almaz and Salyut manned programs were closed, the remaining
frame structures of two Almaz stations were decided to be converted into
unmanned spacecraft for radar surveillance of the Earth. The absence of
systems required for a manned flight enabled specialists to place a large
amount of equipment in a spacecraft, including unique radars.
   The first such spacecraft, Kosmos-1870, was launched by the Proton LV on
July 25, 1987, and transmitted high-quality radar and panoramic imagery to
the Earth for more than two years.
   The second spacecraft, Almaz-1, worked successfully from March 31, 1991,
to October 17, 1992, transmitting images of 10 meter resolution.
   Thereupon the work on the development and operation of TKSs and their
elements under the original programs was over. The principles of approaches,
and the design, engineering, technological and other solutions found during
that work were further implemented in the development of modules for the Mir
orbital station and the ISS, as well as other spacecraft made by the
Khrunichev and other space centers.
     

 

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