January 1983:Salyut 7 Expedition 1, part 1

The Soviet Union launched Kosmos 1267 at 0201 (all times GMT) on 25 April 1981 into a close-Earth orbit with its plane some 10 degrees East of that of the then-occupied Salyut 6 space station. The Kosmos space station module was then manoeuvred to a docking with Salyut 6, by that time unoccupied, at about 0845 on 19 June 1981. On 24 May the Kosmos ejected a reentry vehicle which was, by all accounts, recovered in the USSR. The Soviets appear to have indicated two weights for the station module: about 15 tonnes and “over 10 tonnes”. The difference is thought to account for the reentry vehicle. The total mass when docked with Salyut 6 has been quoted as about 52 tonnes (the main station’s weight is about 19 tonnes). The Soviets never acknowledged the fact that a vehicle was ejected and recovered from the Kosmos module. The combination was maintained close to the operational orbit of Salyut 6 (around 550 km) by using the Kosmos propulsion system. It was de-orbited on 29 July 1982.

The book Sovetskaya Kosmanavitika (Moscow, 1981) and the magazine Aviatsiya i Kosmanavtika (April 1982) have both carried pictures of cosmonauts in the underwater training facility at Zvyodznyy Gorodok, training with a truncated Salyut, i.e. minus the forward transfer section of the Salyut with a hint of a circular vehicle forward of the Salyut, but separate from it. These pictures may show the Kosmos module, or a variant of it.

The Soviets noted that the Kosmos module contained guidance, life-support, thermal regulation, power supply and other major systems which were intended for long duration tests. Noting that the module was the precursor of future specialised space station modules for carrying varied scientific equipment, the Soviets said that the modules would be capable of being docked to Salyut stations or positioned close by in orbit to avoid disturbances during experiments such as materials processing.

A New Beginning

In preparation for the resumption of manned flights, to Salyut 7, the Soviets expended considerable effort on renovating and expanding the facilities of the Kaliningrad Flight Control Centre (FCC) while spare equipment was used to control the flight of the Salyut 6/Kosmos 1267 combination. The work included the addition of a third control room for controlling the flight of two spaceships (Soyuz and Kosmos modules?) as well as the orbital station. This meant that the Soviets had three control rooms available for Salyut 7 missions. Soviet spokesmen noted that the new orbital station would have a design life of four to five years, in contrast to the Salyut 6 design life of 18 months.

Early in 1982 Soviet cosmonaut chief Vladimir Shatalov noted that, of the Soviet’s about 50 active cosmonauts, 16 were training for missions. Shatalov noted that training for missions was no longer dominated by physical and psychological considerations but rather the development of practical skills for Earth observations - geology, oceanography and meteorology.

The New Salyut in Orbit

Salyut 7 was launched atop a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1945 on 19 April 1982 (11 years to the day after the launch of the first Salyut station) into an initial 219x278 km orbit with a period of 89.2 minutes. Despite speculation that, since cosmonaut crews had been observed training in arctic conditions in the Soviet far north, the new Salyut might fly at an inclination of 65 degrees, Salyut 7 occupied the same 51.6 degree inclination as its predecessor (although it was separated by some 70 degrees in orbital plane from Salyut 6).

Control was handled from the FCC, Soviet ground stations and the tracking ship Akademik Sergei Korolev stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. In late April the station was manoeuvred using its own Joint Propulsion Unit (ODU) into a 508x552 km orbit, and then to its operational orbit by 2 May.

On the ground, two 40 year-old cosmonauts were preparing for the Soyuz T-5 mission. Commander was Anatoli Berezovoi who was selected to become a cosmonaut in the 1970 pilot group. Although it was his first flight he was reported as being a reserve on at least one occasion for earlier missions. Berezovoi’s partner was preparing once again for a second trip into space. In February 1980, Valentin Lebedev had been training for a flight to Salyut 6 with Leonid Popov when he damaged knee ligaments in a trampoline accident. Three days younger than his commander and a cosmonaut since 1972, Lebedev had made his first flight in Soyuz 13 with Klimuk.

Soyuz T-5 in Space

Berezovoi and Lebedev were launched at 0958 on 13 May 1982. Within nine minutes the spaceship was in orbit. Although it had been almost nine years since his previous flight Lebedev noted that he felt as though he had returned to weightlessness after only a day. (For the first two days both men noted the customary rush of blood to the head but neither experienced vestibular problems. By day 3 the feelings had considerably lessened, and by day 4 they had fully adapted to their weightless condition.)

The cosmonauts, with the call sign of Elbrus, turned in for their first sleep in space at 1900 after the first manoeuvres that would lead to the docking with Salyut 7 the next day. They were awake at 0045 on the 14th and by their 11th orbit of the Earth had completed checks of their radio guidance system and reset the docking unit probes. By 0800 Soyuz T-5 had completed 14 orbits and the cosmonauts were ready for the final series of rendezvous manoeuvres. The docking occurred at 1136 with the forward docking unit of the space station. (Western reports suggest that difficulties were encountered during the docking because FCC was reported as saying that “they had lived through the docking with the cosmonauts”). The Elbrus entered Salyut 7 some three hours later and began activating the station in preparation for their long stay.

Activating the Station

The first work included activating the life-support system, the water recovery system (which condenses atmospheric moisture) and the power supply systems. The workload was kept light to avoid tiring the crew. As soon as the Salyut’s life- support systems were working the cosmonauts powered down the Soyuz T-5 ferry and installed on air hose to help the flow of air between the vehicles.

A day after the docking, TASS announced the orbital parameters of the complex as: 343x360 km; period 91.3 minutes; inclination 51.6 degrees.- Inside the station the temperature was 20 degrees C, and the pressure 840 mm of mercury.

FCC had allotted three days for getting Salyut 7 into working order. The cosmonauts were scheduled next to prepare the scientific equipment, much of which was rigidly bolted down to protect it from the stresses of launch. They loaded up the fixed and portable cameras with film and made a start on their regular sessions of physical exercises on the KFT treadmill and veloergometer. The scientific research was scheduled to begin only one week after their launch.

The Soviets described Salyut 7 as being the same size and shape as the Salyut 6 station, with two docking units, the major differences being in the composition of the scientific experiments.

A Unique Experiment

On 17 May, to coincide with the opening in Moscow of the Young Communists League Congress, Berezovoi and Lebedev launched a sub-satellite.

The Iskra 2 satellite, a 28 kg hexagonal communications relay satellite, was put into the ShK airlock and, following evacuation of the air in the chamber, simply jettisoned, into outer space. The technique had been used before for ejecting waste bags.

Iskra 2 was constructed by students from the Sergei Ordzhonikidze Aviation Institute in Moscow (Lebedev is a graduate) and was designed to provide communication between radio hams and student organisations from the USSR and Soviet-oriented countries. It contained a repeater, a radio command and memory unit, a command radio channel and a telemetric system. The exterior was covered with emblems of the youth leagues of all the socialist countries.

Control was handled from centres in Moscow and Kaluga. The satellite was tracked as being in a 342x357 km, 91.3 minute orbit shortly after its “launch” from Salyut 7.

Progress 13 is Launched

On 21 May the Elbrus commanded the Delta autonomous navigation system, which the Soviets called the central control of Salyut 7, to put the station into a gravitationally-stabilised mode. The manoeuvre, which would have normally required the crew to conduct several thruster firings, was achieved automatically for the-first time. Much of the responsibility for control of the station and its systems has been passed over to the Delta system.

In this stabilised mode the cosmonauts were able to conduct extensive Earth observations. During the early part of their flight they reported two large cyclones over the USSR and photographed the Krasnodar territory, the main winter granary in the USSR, cotton fields in Central Asia and crops around the River Volga.

At 0557 on 23 May the Soviets launched the 13th in the series of Progress automated transport ships to deliver supplies and further equipment. From its initial low orbit of 191X278 km, Progress 13 was manoeuvred over the next two days to a successful docking with the aft port, at 0757 on 25 May.

In its two compartments, with a volume of 6.6 m, there was about 2100 kg of equipment and supplies, including 660 kg of fuel for the ODU, 290 litres of water, almost 900 kg of scientific equipment (including about 250 kg for the Soviet/French flight), and food and clothing. Specific items of scientific equipment included a new, improved, Kristall unit for technological experiments, an EFO-7 electrophotometer designed for stellar studies, and the French Posture and Ecography experiments.

On 26 May the cosmonauts opened the hatch between the two craft and began unloading with their first priority being a parcelof food, gifts and letters from their families and friends. The refuelling of the ODU was completed by 1 June and water from the Progress external tanks was transferred into the Salyut external tanks via the Rodnik (Spring) pumping system.

Making Ready

On 2 June Salyut 7 was, using the propulsion unit of Progress 13, manoeuvred into an orbit below its operational height. The three-spacecraft complex was lowered to 291X 321 km in a two impulse manoeuvre from the 335x341 km orbit it had occupied. It might be, as P. S. Clark has speculated, that the three man version of Soyuz T (as was to be used in the French flight) is unable to reach the normal 350 km orbit of Salyut 7. Clark notes that the three man Soyuz T-3 flight in November 1980 flew into a similar orbit.

At 0631 on 4 June Progress 13 was undocked and steered away. At 0005 on 6 June the propulsion unit was used to send the discarded ship, laden with rubbish, into the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean where it was destroyed away from shipping lanes.

On 19 June the complex was given a final correction to refine its groundtrack in readiness for the launch some five days later of the Soviet/French Soyuz T-6 spacecraft.