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between Lovelace and Anatoly Alexandrov, President of the Soviet Academy of Science, on May 11, 1977. The agreement pointed out the complimentary nature of the two countries’ programs: Salyut was designed for long space stays, and Shuttle was designed for ferrying supplies and crews. The first Shuttle flight to a Soviet Salyut station was tentatively scheduled for 1981.[1] The first Shuttle-Salyut working group meeting took place in Moscow in November 1977. However, the next meeting, set to take place in the U.S. in March-April 1978, was postponed. By late 1978, the U.S.-Soviet detente which made ASTP possible had run aground on human rights and technology transfer issues, and Shuttle-Salyut became dormant. However, occasionally during the 1980s, interest in Shuttle dockings with Soviet stations cropped up again. In 1985, the Reagan White House is said to have considered offering a Shuttle mission to aid in rescuing Salyut 7. In late 1987, NASA officials briefly considered having the Soviet shuttle dock with a
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U.S. station, and the U.S. Shuttle dock with Mir.[2] 2.1.7 Second-Generation Stations: Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 (1977-1986)The second-generation stations Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 each had two docking ports. This permitted guest crews (known officially as Visiting Expeditions) to visit resident crews (known officially as Principal Expeditions). Visiting Expeditions could trade their Soyuz for the one already docked to the station, leaving a fresh vehicle for the Principal Expedition. Visiting Expeditions included cosmonauts from countries allied with or sympathetic to the Soviet Union. They were selected, trained, and flown as part of the Intercosmos program. Progress resupply craft used the aft docking port to deliver supplies to the second-generation stations. |
2.1.8 Third-Generation Station: Mir (1986-present)With Mir, the third-generation station, the Soviet space station effort has come full circle. The Korolev bureau’s 1962 prospectus proposing a multimodular station reached fruition a quarter-century later, in 1987, with the permanent docking of the Kvant module to the Mir base block. In 1989-1990, the Kvant 2 and Kristall modules were added. At launch Mir was expected to be operational for 5 years. The base block is now in its ninth year. During that time it was almost always manned. 2.2 Salyut 1/DOS-1 (April 19-October 11, 1971)Salyut 1 (figure 2-3) was the first manned space staion. Most of its main components were originally built for OKB-52’s Almaz program. Many of the smaller components were borrowed from the Soyuz program. |
2.2.1 Salyut 1 Specifications
- Length ........................................................ 14.55 m
- Maximum diameter ...................................... 4.15 m
- Habitable volume ......................................... 90 m3
- Weight at launch ......................................... 18,900 kg
- Launch vehicle ............................................ Proton (three-stage)
- Span across solar arrays ............................. about 10 m
- Area of solar arrays ..................................... 28 m2
- Number of solar arrays ................................ 4
- Resupply carriers ....................................... Salyut 1-type Soyuz
- Number of docking ports ............................. 1
- Total manned missions ............................... 2
- Total long-duration manned missions ........... 1
