Salyut 7

Salyut 7 photographed following the undocking of Soyuz T-13, September 25, 1985
Station statistics
Crew:	3
Launch:	1982-04-19 19:45:00 UTC
Launch pad:	LC-200/40, Baikonur Cosmodrome, USSR
Reentry:	1991-02-07
Mass:	19,824 kg
Length:	~16 m
Width:	4.15 m
Living volume:	90 m³
Perigee:	219 km (118.25 nmi)
Apogee:	278 km (150.1 nmi)
Orbit inclination:	51.6 degrees
Orbital period:	89.2 minutes
Days in orbit:	3216 days
Days occupied:	816 days
Number of orbits:	51,917
Distance travelled:	2,106,297,129 km (1,137,309,460 nmi)
Statistics as of de-orbit and reentry.
Configuration
Salyut 7 with docked Cosmos 1686 TKS spacecraft
Salyut 7

Salyut 7 (Russian: Салют-7; English: Salute 7) was the final space station launched into Low Earth orbit as part of the Soviet Union's Salyut Program. Launched on April 19, 1982, on a Proton rocket from Site 200/40 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the USSR, Salyut 7 was part of the transition from "monolithic" to "modular" space stations, acting as a testbed for docking of additional modules and expanded station operations. It was also the tenth space station of any kind launched.

Description

Soyuz T-13 approaches the 'dead' Salyut 7.

Salyut 7 was the back-up vehicle for Salyut 6 and very similar in equipment and capabilities. With delays to the Mir programme it was decided to launch the back-up vehicle as Salyut 7. In orbit the station suffered a number of technical failures though it benefited from the improved payload capacity of the visiting Progress and Soyuz craft and the experience of its crews who improvised many solutions (such as a fuel line rupture in September 1983 requiring EVAs by the Soyuz T-10 to repair). It was aloft for eight years and two months (a record not broken until Mir), during which time it was visited by 10 crews constituting 6 main expeditions and 4 secondary flights (including French and Indian cosmonauts). Also saw two flights of Svetlana Savitskaya making her the second woman in space since 1963 and the first to perform an EVA. Aside from the many experiments and observations made on Salyut 7, the station also tested the docking and use of large modules with an orbiting space station. The modules were called "Heavy Cosmos modules" though in reality were variants of the TKS spacecraft intended for the cancelled Almaz military space station. They helped engineers develop technology necessary to build Mir. Salyut 7 deorbited on February 7, 1991.

It had two docking ports, one on either end of the station, to allow docking with the Progress unmanned resupply craft, and a wider front docking port to allow safer docking with a Heavy Cosmos module. It carried three solar panels, two in lateral and one in dorsal longitudinal positions, but they now had the ability to mount secondary panels on their sides. Internally, the Salyut 7 carried electric stoves, a refrigerator, constant hot water and redesigned seats at the command console (more like bicycle seats). Two portholes were designed to allow ultraviolet light in, to help kill infections. Further, the medical, biological and exercise sections were improved, to allow long stays in the station. The BST-1M telescope used in Salyut 6 was replaced by an X-ray detection system.

Crews and missions

Salyut 7 with docked spacecraft

Following up the use of Cosmos 1267 on Salyut 6, the Soviets launched Cosmos 1443 on March 2, 1983, from a Proton SL-13. It docked with the station on March 10, and was used by the crew of Soyuz T-9. It jettisoned its recovery module on August 23, and re-entered the atmosphere on September 19. Cosmos 1686 was launched on September 27, 1985, docking with the station on October 2. It did not carry a recovery vehicle, and remained connected to the station for use by the crew of Soyuz T-14. Ten Soyuz T crews operated in Salyut 7. Only two InterCosmos "guest cosmonauts" worked in Salyut 7. The first attempt to launch Soyuz T-10 was aborted on the launch pad when a fire broke out at the base of the vehicle. The payload was ejected, and the crew was recovered safely.

Salyut 7 had six resident crews.

• The first crew, Anatoli Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev, arrived on May 13 1982 on Soyuz T-5 and remained for 211 days until December 10 1982.
• On June 27, 1983 the crew of Vladimir Lyakhov and Alexander Alexandrov arrived on Soyuz T-9 and remained for 150 days, until November 23, 1983.
• On February 8 1984 Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyev, and Oleg Atkov began a 237 day stay, the longest on Salyut 7, which ended on October 2, 1984.
• Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh (Soyuz T-13) arrived at the space station on June 6, 1985.
• On September 17, 1985 Soyuz T-14 docked with the station carrying Vladimir Vasyutin, Alexander Volkov, and Georgi Grechko. Eight days later Dzhanibekov and Grechko left the station and returned to Earth after 103 days, while Savinyikh, Vasyutin, and Volkov remained on Salyut 7 and returned to Earth on November 21, 1985 after 65 days.
• On May 6, 1986 Soyuz T-15 carrying Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov docked with the space station. The Soyuz had come from the Mir space station and returned to Mir after 50 days on Salyut.

There were also four visiting missions, crews which came to bring supplies and make shorter duration visits with the resident crews.

Specifications

• Length - about 16 m
• Maximum diameter - 4.15 m
• Habitable volume - 90 m³
• Weight at launch - 19,824 kg
• Launch vehicle - Proton rocket (three-stage)
• Orbital inclination - 51.6°
• Span across solar arrays - 17 m
• Area of solar arrays - 51 m²
• Number of solar arrays - 3
• Electricity available - 4.5 kW
• Resupply carriers - Soyuz-T, Progress, TKS spacecraft
• Number of docking ports - 2
• Total manned missions - 12
• Total unmanned missions - 15
• Total long-duration missions - 6
• Number of main engines - 2
• Main engine thrust (each) - 2.9 kN

Visiting spacecraft and crews

(Launched crews. Spacecraft launch and landing dates listed.)

• Soyuz T-5 - May 13 - August 27, 1982
  • Anatoli Berezovoy
  • Valentin Lebedev

• Soyuz T-6 - June 24 - July 2, 1982 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Vladimir Dzhanibekov
  • Aleksandr Ivanchenkov
  • Jean-Loup Chrétien - France

• Soyuz T-7 - August 19 - December 10, 1982
  • Leonid Popov
  • Aleksandr Serebrov
  • Svetlana Savitskaya

• Soyuz T-8 - April 20 - 22, 1982 - Failed docking
  • Vladimir Titov
  • Gennady Strekalov
  • Aleksandr Serebrov

• Soyuz T-9 - June 27 - November 23, 1983
  • Vladimir Lyakhov
  • Alexander Alexandrov

• Soyuz T-10-1 - September 26, 1983 - Launch abort
  • Vladimir Titov
  • Gennady Strekalov

• Soyuz T-10 - February 8 - April 11, 1984
  • Leonid Kizim
  • Vladimir Solovyev
  • Oleg Atkov

• TKS 2 - March 4 - August 14, 1983 - Launched unmanned as Cosmos 1443.

• Soyuz T-11 - April 3 - October 2, 1984 - Intercosmos Flight
  • Yuri Malyshev
  • Gennady Strekalov
  • Rakesh Sharma - India

• Soyuz T-12 - July 17 - 29, 1984
  • Vladimir Dzhanibekov
  • Svetlana Savitskaya
  • Igor Volk

• Soyuz T-13 - June 6 - September 26, 1985
  • Vladimir Dzhanibekov
  • Viktor Savinykh

• Soyuz T-14 - September 17 - November 21, 1985
  • Vladimir Vasyutin
  • Georgi Grechko
  • Alexander Volkov

• TKS 3 - September, 1985 - February 7, 1991 - Launched unmanned as Cosmos 1686. Featured a high-resolution photo apparatus and optical sensor experiments (infrared telescope and Ozon spectrometer).

• Soyuz T-15 - March 13 - July 16, 1986 - Also visited Mir
  • Leonid Kizim
  • Vladimir Solovyev

See also

• Space station for statistics of occupied space stations
• Salyut
• TKS spacecraft
• Almaz
• Mir
• Skylab
• International Space Station
• List of spacewalks

References

• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1982-033A
• Soviet Space Stations as Analogs - NASA report (PDF format)

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