[FPSPACE] The Mystery of Almaz OPS-4

[Kosmos327 at aol.com]

Hello fellow FPSpacers,
 
I'm sure most of you have experienced the challenge of putting  together a 
puzzle - whether it be a 500 piece interlocking view of Big Ben,  or the clues 
left in a murder mystery by Agatha Christie. Likewise,  you have also felt the 
exhilaration of that moment when it all comes together in  your mind, and you 
say to yourself, "I'VE GOT IT!"
 
If you look back through the archives of the FPSpace postings you'll  see 
that I have presented many questions about the Almaz/TKS/VA program. Most  have 
been about technical details such as the location of the VA's soft landing  
engines, or whether or not the Salyut-5 had a Synthetic Aperture  Radar? I've 
gotten the answer to most all of  these "little things,"  but there has been one 
line of questioning concerning the OPS-4 station that has  always alluded me 
... until now. 
 
I received an image the other day which intrigued me. It was a  cross-section 
of an Almaz station which seemed "out of place". It was like  finding pieces 
in that Big Ben puzzle which did interlock, but were not on  the box cover. 
Then you realize that it is what it's supposed to  be, but seen from a different 
perspective. And just like in that Agatha Christie  novel, suddenly you 
realize that certain characters and events were not who or  what you thought they 
were... and suddenly, "BAMMM, I GOT IT!!!"  Every answer has been there right 
in front of me the whole time.  Every clue has been sitting right there in the 
Exhibition Hall  (pronounced "myoo-zee-uhm") at NPO Mash. But, whether it be 
the  result of misinformation or mistranslation, I've been looking at OPS-4 all 
 wrong. There's a reason the thermal fabric on forward docking port is a  
different color than the rest. There's a reason the forward docking port is  
designed for a TKS, and not a Soyuz. There's a reason why TKS docking ports on  
the front and back of the station didn't change the classification of the  
station from Almaz to Zvezda. And now that I've seen this  new image, it all makes 
sense. Bare in mind that I have no proof yet, but  ...
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, a shameless self promotion: What started out as a  
modeling project has slowly evolved into the decision to write a book  honoring 
Vladimir N. Chelomei and his Almaz OPS program. You can view a blog  I've 
started about this at <http://almaz-ops-105.blogspot.com>. Visit me  there and, in 
due time, I'll post my conclusion to this mystery before  the book goes to the 
publisher.
 
 
"What! Did, you think I was just going to blurt out the  answer? Granted, I 
would not have gotten this far without help and  assistance from many members 
of FPSpace. But, c'mon now... "

 
Best Regards to All!
 
David L. Rickman
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



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