[FPSPACE] Soviet underwater EVA training precedingStarCityHydrolab?

Thu Feb 28 14:27:08 EST 2008

David, good thoughts. 
I seem to recall that the Hydrolab has a moveable floor that can be raised and lowered to permit hardware changeouts without draining and refilling the whole tank.
John Charles
Houston, Texas

----- Original Message -----
From: Kosmos327 at aol.com <Kosmos327 at aol.com>
To: jeoberg at comcast.net <jeoberg at comcast.net>; Charles, John B. (JSC-SA2); japio at dds.nl <japio at dds.nl>
Cc: fpspace at friends-partners.org <fpspace at friends-partners.org>; rex at rexhallassociates.com <rex at rexhallassociates.com>
Sent: Thu Feb 28 13:15:40 2008
Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] Soviet underwater EVA training precedingStarCityHydrolab?

Hi Rex, Jim, John, Jakob, and why do I want to say "Jingleheimer Schmidt"...

Based on the timing, I believe this footage is showing one of Chelomei's TKS cosmonaut crews training for a mission to the unmanned Almaz T. These crews trained in a TKS model in November of 1979. The hydrotank opened in 1980, and these crews were still in various training exercises until at least late 1981, with limited VA training in 1982. OPS-4 had already been canceled as a manned station, but Chelomei still had hopes for his TKS cosmonauts

The docking end of the TKS was probably representing Kosmos-1443 built for training of Salyut-7 cosmonauts. This would explain why the TKS was similar to the Salyut hydrotank trainer, but the Almaz airlock was of completely different construction. It (and the mock KSI capsule) could easily be slipped in for training - albeit draining the tank and moving the TKS portion.

Best Regards,

David L. Rickman

http://almaz-ops-105.blogspot.com/

In a message dated 2/28/2008 1:31:53 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, jeoberg at comcast.net writes:

	Looking back to the very beginning, don't forget the Nikolayev
	and Sevastianov had visited MSFC in Huntsville in 1971, after
	Soyuz-9 and as part of the make-nice run-up to ASTP...
	Sevastianov got into a suit and went into MSFC's tank, and
	the word is that the Star City tank's dimensions reflected
	those of the MARSHALL facility, not JSC...

	Freak coincidence: while in Moscow after visiting Baykonur
	for the Soyuz launch in October 2005, I was walking back to
	my hotel after touring the new church (Christ Savior), and
	while passing the parliament building, a car pulls up and out
	steps Vitaliy Sevastianov. We'd first met at GCTC in 1989,
	but I was nobody to him, and I stammered out his name, he paused
	and looked at me and nodded, and I couldn't think of anything else
	to say. Off he went on Party business.....

	----- Original Message ----- 
	From: "Charles, John B. (JSC-SA2)" <john.b.charles at nasa.gov>
	To: "Jakob Terweij" <japio at dds.nl>
	Cc: <fpspace at friends-partners.org>; <Kosmos327 at aol.com>
	Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 12:14 PM
	Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] Soviet underwater EVA training 
	precedingStarCityHydrolab?

	> Jakob,
	>
	> <<Or ask at Starcity. I can take the question with me and ask around
	> when I am there in April.
	> Jakob>>
	>
	> Thanks for offering, and I look forward to hearing what they tell you.
	> My interest is in the earliest use of water immersion to evaluate
	> astronaut mobility, but until David reminded me about Abramov's book, I
	> had no insight into pre-Hydrolab facilities in the FSU.
	>
	> Tell us if they repeat the story that Star City managers put their
	> Hydrolab in a round building because the Americans had done so first.
	> The rest of the story, as told to me by a Star City physician working at
	> the Hydrolab over a decade ago, was that the Russians didn't know why a
	> round building was important, but if the Americans did it, then they
	> must do it too.
	>
	> I took it as true, but on reflection it may have been just a
	> self-deprecating joke.  After all, if they built their Hydrolab in 1980,
	> it was not long after NASA finished its Water Immersion Facility (WIF)
	> in Buidling 29--the round building at JSC.  But if they knew about that,
	> then they must also have known that Building 29 formerly housed the
	> large training centrifuge (hence, its shape) but was now empty, making
	> it an ideal location for the new WIF.  In which case, they should have
	> known why the Americans thought the round building was important.
	>
	> John Charles
	> Houston, Texas
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