Re: Khrunichev's history photo archive

On Feb 22, 1:38 pm, "Jim Oberg" <job...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Khrunichev's history photo archive

NK (Zheleznyakov) notes a new history archive athttp://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 ...

read more »

Great stuff here. Thanks. Why is there so little information (pics.
etc) on Polyus? The best stuff I've seen really is from Mark Wade but
no other official source..................Doc

.

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