Description of the spaceship for children. Soyuz spacecraft
In a small town, lost in the desert region of California, an unknown lone amateur is trying to compete with world-famous billionaires and corporations for the right to build spaceships to send cargo to low Earth orbit. He does not have enough assistants and not enough resources. But, despite all the difficulties, he is going to bring his work to the end.
Joe Pappalardo
Dave Masten is staring at his computer screen. His finger hovered over the mouse button for a moment. Dave knows that he is about to open a letter from the DARPA agency, and this letter will change his life no matter what it says. He will either receive funding or be forced to give up his dream forever.
Two news
This is a real turning point, because at stake is participation in the DARPA-funded XS-1 program, which aims to build a reusable unmanned spaceplane that can withstand ten launches in ten days, accelerate to speeds in excess of 10 M and, with the help of an additional stage, deliver to low a payload weighing more than 1.5 tons. At the same time, the cost of each launch should not exceed $ 5 million. Dave Masten - the eternal outsider, a refugee from Silicon Valley, a hermit entrepreneur in the space industry - has never been so close to creating a full space system, like this time. If his company becomes one of the three participants in the XS-1 project, Dave will immediately receive a grant of $ 3 million and additional financial injections next year. And the cost of the future contract may exceed $140 million!
In case of refusal, Dave's company will remain an unknown small firm, eking out a miserable existence and cherishing the fragile dream of building orbital spacecraft. But, even worse, a rare opportunity to realize Masten's idea will be missed. State spaceflight programs have historically favored (in fact, this was a requirement) spacecraft that require an airfield or a huge parachute to land. Masten proposed a vertical takeoff and vertical landing rocket, one that would require neither a landing strip nor a parachute to return to Earth. The XS-1 program presented a good chance to implement this idea, but if luck suddenly turns its back and the chance to participate in it falls to another, then who knows if the government will open up new sources of funding in the future.
So, one email, two completely different paths, one of which leads straight into space. Masten clicks the mouse and begins to read - slowly, delving into every word. When he's done, he turns to the engineers gathered behind him and with a straight face announces: “I have two news, good and bad. The good news is that we have been selected to participate in XS-1! The bad news is that we were selected for XS-1.”
Spaceport Cluster
The terrain in the north of the Mojave Desert is more reminiscent of scenes from a disaster movie: abandoned gas stations, painted with graffiti, and broken roads, on which carcasses of downed animals are found in some places, only reinforce this impression. Mountains flaunting on the horizon in the distance, unforgiving heat of the sun and seemingly endless cloudless blue sky.
However, this confusing emptiness is deceptive: in the western United States, Edwards Air Force Base (R-2508) is the main testing ground in the country. 50,000 square kilometers of closed airspace are now and then cut through by combat aircraft. It was here 68 years ago that Chuck Yeager became the first aviator to exceed the speed of sound in controlled level flight.
The ban on passenger and private jet flights, however, does not apply to residents of the nearby Mojave Aerospace Port, which was designated the country's first commercial spaceport in 2004. Masten also moved here that same year, right after the startup he worked for as a software engineer was bought by communications giant Cisco Systems. Of several vacant buildings offered to Dave when he moved in, Dave chose an abandoned Marine barracks built in the 1940s. The building was in serious need of repair: the roof was leaking and the walls and corners were thickly adorned with cobwebs. For Dave, this was the ideal place: thanks to the high six-meter ceilings, all the aircraft that he and his three employees were constructing at that time could fit here. Another plus was the ability to stake out several launch sites and carry out test launches from them.
For several years, Masten Space Systems was known to only a few space technology experts and a few resident neighbors of the spaceport, including established industry giants such as Scaled Composites, which initiated private investment in space, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Vulcan Stratolaunch Systems Paul Allen. Their spacious hangars are literally crammed with sophisticated equipment that costs more than the entire MSS put together. However, such competition did not prevent Masten's brainchild in 2009 from winning $ 1 million in a competition hosted by NASA to build a lunar lander. After that, they suddenly started talking about the company, and Dave began to receive orders - in addition to NASA, his rockets began to be popular with famous universities in the country and even in the Ministry of Defense - for high-altitude scientific experiments and research.
Computer mock-up of the XS-1 VTOL spacecraft designed by Masten Space Systems
After the official inclusion in the XS-1 program, the authority of MSS grew even stronger - in competition with the Boeing Corporation and the large military-industrial company Northrop Grumman, Masten looked very solid. In addition to these industry giants, Blue Origin, a private aerospace company owned by Jeff Bezos, is involved in the project through a partnership with Boeing, as well as the already mentioned Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic, collaborating with Northrop Grumman. MSS itself decided to join forces with another small company from Mojave - XCOR Aerospace. So, in the race to create a reusable space truck, Dave had to clash with the most venerable and well-endowed corporations. Only thirteen months remained until the next stage - the evaluation of intermediate results and the decision on further funding.
Better than Boeing
The MSS building is in the same condition as when it was occupied by Masten. The roof is still leaking, and you can accidentally stumble upon a poisonous spider. There are toolboxes around the perimeter. Apart from banners with the name of the company, a board covered with equations, and an American flag, there is nothing on the walls. The center of the hangar is occupied by the Xaero-B rocket, which rests on four metal legs, above which there are two volumetric spherical tanks. One of them is filled with isopropyl alcohol, the other is filled with liquid oxygen. Slightly higher in a circle are additional tanks with helium. They are necessary for the operation of the engines of the jet control system, designed to control the spatial position of the ship. The engine at the bottom of the rocket is mounted in a gimbal to keep this strange insect-like structure steerable.
Several employees are busy preparing Xaero-B for a joint experiment with the University of Colorado (Boulder, USA), in which it is planned to test whether the ship can communicate with ground-based telescopes and participate in the search for exoplanets.
Masten's company attracts a certain type of mechanical engineer who is a true fan of his craft. “I did an internship at Boeing in the engine department for the 777,” says 26-year-old engineer Kyle Nyberg. Boeing is a very good company. But to be honest, I don't like sitting in the office all day long. I imagined that the next 40 years of my life would go like this, and I got really scared. At a small private company like MSS, engineers can experience a whole gamut of emotions when implementing their ideas - from euphoria to complete disappointment. You rarely see this anywhere."
Refueling at the Lagrange point
Masten's main focus has always been the creation of a rocket designed to carry cargo, not astronauts, a kind of "workhorse". Such ships will definitely be needed, for example, to transport oxygen and hydrogen from the lunar surface to a gas station, which will one day be placed in one of the Lagrange points between the Earth and the Moon. That is why Masten lays in his development the principle of vertical takeoff and landing. “This is the only way I know of that will work on the surface of any solid body in the solar system,” he explains. “You can’t land a plane or a shuttle on the moon!”
In addition, VTOL makes it easier to reuse the spacecraft. Some of Masten's rockets have already made several hundred flights, preparing for a re-launch takes no more than one day. Under the terms of the XS-1 program, you need to make ten launches within ten days - for MSS this has long been commonplace. Here Dave is far ahead of his competitors, who have not yet managed to do this even once.
Humility and diligence
So, DARPA announced that all three participants in the XS-1 program were admitted to Phase 1B, for which each company will receive an additional $6 million. The main tasks of Phase 1 were to conduct design work and prepare infrastructure - in other words, it was necessary to demonstrate that the company will be able to work in XS-1. In phase 1B, participants must move on to trial runs, collect relevant data, and continue to refine the design to show how they plan to achieve the final goal. Phase 1B results are due next summer, with the first flight of the XS-1 into orbit scheduled for 2018.
No matter what the outcome of this competition is, the very fact that Dave has managed to get this far could turn the industry of private space projects upside down. “This is a game-changer,” said Hannah Kerner, executive director of the Space Frontier Foundation and a former NASA engineer. "DARPA has not only given private companies the opportunity to participate in the government's space program, but has also recognized emerging small companies as potentially serious players." Even if you forget about participation in XS-1 for a moment, MSS is still difficult to call an outsider company. In August, it opened a new office at Cape Canaveral, a space center in Florida that has recently begun to function as a hub for commercial space launches. In the same business center, located near the Kennedy Space Center, the office of SpaceX is located.
Despite this, MSS is still short on people and resources, and is still a group of romantic engineers who drill, hammer and solder in their hangar next door to rich big companies. And involuntarily you start to root for them - you want them to succeed.
"I think we will definitely compete with our competitors," - that's all that Masten answered the question about the chances of success in the XS-1. He sees no reason to promise mountains of gold, although many of his colleagues in the shop have already become a habit. Many succeed because they can speak beautifully. Dave is not one of them - he is calm, hardworking, modest, but just like his rivals, he is passionately eager to realize his ideas.
The instrument panel of the ship "Vostok-1" Yu. A. Gagarin. Central Museum of the Armed Forces, Moscow
The total mass of the spacecraft reached 4.73 tons, the length (without antennas) was 4.4 m, and the maximum diameter was 2.43 m.
The ship consisted of a spherical descent vehicle (weight 2.46 tons and a diameter of 2.3 m) also performing the functions of an orbital compartment and a conical instrument compartment (weight 2.27 tons and a maximum diameter of 2.43 m). Mass of thermal protection from 1.3 tons to 1.5 tons. The compartments were mechanically connected to each other using metal bands and pyrotechnic locks. The ship was equipped with systems: automatic and manual control, automatic orientation to the Sun, manual orientation to the Earth, life support (designed to maintain an internal atmosphere close in its parameters to the Earth's atmosphere for 10 days), command-logical control, power supply, thermal control and landing . To ensure the tasks of human work in outer space, the ship was equipped with autonomous and radio telemetry equipment for monitoring and recording parameters characterizing the state of the astronaut, structures and systems, ultrashortwave and shortwave equipment for two-way radiotelephone communication of the astronaut with ground stations, a command radio link, a program-time device, a television system with two transmitting cameras for observing the astronaut from the Earth, a radio system for monitoring the parameters of the orbit and direction finding of the spacecraft, a TDU-1 braking propulsion system, and other systems.
The weight of the spacecraft together with the last stage of the launch vehicle was 6.17 tons, and their length in conjunction was 7.35 m.
When developing the descent vehicle, the designers chose an axisymmetric spherical shape, as the most well-studied and having stable aerodynamic characteristics for all ranges of angles of attack at different speeds. This solution made it possible to provide an acceptable mass of the apparatus's thermal protection and to implement the simplest ballistic scheme for deorbiting. At the same time, the choice of a ballistic descent scheme determined the high overloads that a person working on board the ship had to experience.
The descent vehicle had two windows, one of which was located on the entrance hatch, just above the cosmonaut's head, and the other, equipped with a special orientation system, in the floor at his feet. The astronaut, dressed in a spacesuit, was placed in a special ejection seat. At the last stage of landing, after braking the descent vehicle in the atmosphere, at an altitude of 7 km, the cosmonaut ejected from the cabin and made a parachute landing. In addition, the possibility of landing an astronaut inside the descent vehicle was provided. The descent vehicle had its own parachute, but was not equipped with the means to perform a soft landing, which threatened the person remaining in it with a serious bruise during a joint landing.
The equipment of the Vostok ships was made as simple as possible. The return maneuver was usually processed by an automatic command transmitted by radio from Earth. For the purpose of horizontal orientation of the ship, infrared sensors were used. Alignment along the orbit axis was performed using stellar and solar orientation sensors.
In the event of failure of automatic systems, the astronaut could switch to manual control. This was possible due to the use of the original optical orientator "Vzor" installed on the cabin floor. An annular mirror zone was placed on the porthole, and arrows indicating the direction of displacement of the earth's surface were applied on a special matte screen. When the spacecraft was correctly oriented relative to the horizon, all eight viewfinders of the mirror zone were illuminated by the sun. Observation of the earth's surface through the central part of the screen ("Earth run") made it possible to determine the direction of flight.
Another device helped the astronaut decide when to start the return maneuver - a small globe with a clockwork, which showed the current position of the spacecraft above the Earth. Knowing the starting point of the position, it was possible to determine the place of the upcoming landing with relative accuracy.
This manual system could only be used in the illuminated part of the orbit. At night, the Earth could not be observed through the Vzor. The automatic orientation system had to be able to work at any time.
The Vostok ships were not adapted for manned flights to the moon, and also did not allow the possibility of flights of people who did not undergo special training. This was largely due to the design of the ship's descent module, affectionately referred to as Ball. The spherical shape of the descent vehicle did not provide for the use of orientation thrusters. The device looked like a ball, the main weight of which was concentrated in one part, thus, when moving along a ballistic trajectory, it automatically turned its heavy part down. Ballistic descent meant eight times the G-force on return from Earth orbit and twenty times on return from the Moon. A similar ballistic apparatus was the Mercury capsule; the Gemini, Apollo and Soyuz ships, due to their shape and displaced center of gravity, made it possible to reduce the experienced overloads (3 G for returning from near-Earth orbit and 8 G for returning from the Moon), and had sufficient maneuverability to change the landing point.
The Soviet ships "Vostok" and "Voskhod" as well as the American "Mercury" were not able to perform orbital maneuvers, allowing only rotations relative to the main axes. The re-start of the propulsion system was not provided, it was used only for the purpose of performing a return braking maneuver. Nevertheless, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, before starting the development of the Soyuz, considered the possibility of creating a maneuverable Vostok. This project involved docking the ship with special booster modules, which in the future would allow it to be used in the task of flying around the moon. Later, the idea of a maneuverable version of the Vostok ship was implemented in the Zenit reconnaissance satellites and the specialized Foton satellites.
Pilots of spaceships "Vostok"
Kostov Matvey
Participant of urban scientific readings for children of primary school age in the section "Space World". The student talks about the structure of the spacecraft "Vostok", "Voskhod" and "Soyuz".
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City scientific readings for children of primary school age
Section "Space World"
Topic: "Design of spaceships"
Class 3 B MBOU-gymnasium No. 2
Scientific adviser Mosolova G.V., primary school teacher
Tula 2013
Introduction
I am very interested in the design of spaceships. Firstly, because it is a large and complex apparatus, on the creation of which many scientists and engineers are working. Secondly, for several hours or even days, the ship becomes a home for an astronaut, where normal human conditions are necessary - the astronaut must breathe, drink, eat, sleep. During the flight, the astronaut is required to turn the ship around and change the orbit at his own discretion, that is, the ship must be easily controlled when moving in space. Thirdly, in the future I would like to design spaceships myself.
The spacecraft is designed to fly one or more people into outer space and safely return to Earth after completing the mission.
The technical requirements for a spacecraft are more stringent than for any other spacecraft. Flight conditions (G-forces, temperature conditions, pressure, etc.) must be maintained for them very accurately so that a threat to human life is not created.
An important feature of a manned spacecraft is the presence of an emergency rescue system.
Manned spacecraft have been created only in Russia, the USA and China, since this task is of high complexity and cost. And only Russia and the USA have reusable manned spacecraft systems.
In this work, I tried to talk about the design of the Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz spacecraft.
"East"
A series of Soviet spacecraft "Vostok" is designed for manned flights in near-Earth orbit. They were created under the leadership of General Designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev from 1958 to 1963.
The first manned flight of the Vostok spacecraft with Yu.A. Gagarin on board took place on April 12, 1961, it was the first spacecraft in the world that made it possible to carry out a manned flight into space.
The main scientific tasks that stood for the Vostok spacecraft were: studying the effects of orbital flight conditions on the astronaut's condition and performance, testing the design and systems, testing the basic principles of spacecraft construction.
The total mass of the spacecraft is 4.73 tons, the length is 4.4 m, and the maximum diameter is 2.43 m.
The spacecraft consisted of a spherical descent vehicle (2.46 tons in weight and 2.3 m in diameter), which also served as an orbital compartment and a conical instrument compartment. The compartments were mechanically connected to each other using metal bands and pyrotechnic locks. The ship was equipped with systems: automatic and manual control, automatic orientation to the Sun, manual orientation to the Earth, life support, command-logical control, power supply, thermal control and landing. To ensure the tasks of human work in outer space, the ship was equipped with autonomous and radio telemetry equipment for monitoring and recording parameters characterizing the state of the astronaut, structures and systems, ultrashortwave and shortwave equipment for two-way radiotelephone communication of the astronaut with ground stations, a command radio link, a program-time device, a television system with two transmitting cameras for observing the astronaut from the Earth, a radio system for monitoring the parameters of the orbit and direction finding of the spacecraft, a TDU-1 braking propulsion system, and other systems. The weight of the spacecraft, together with the last stage of the launch vehicle, was 6.17 tons, and their length in conjunction was 7.35 m.
The descent vehicle had two windows, one of which was located on the entrance hatch, just above the cosmonaut's head, and the other, equipped with a special orientation system, in the floor at his feet. The astronaut, dressed in a spacesuit, was placed in a special ejection seat. At the last stage of landing, after braking the descent vehicle in the atmosphere, at an altitude of 7 km, the cosmonaut ejected from the cabin and made a parachute landing. In addition, the possibility of landing an astronaut inside the descent vehicle was provided. The descent vehicle had its own parachute, but was not equipped with the means to perform a soft landing, which threatened the person remaining in it with a serious bruise during a joint landing.
In the event of failure of automatic systems, the astronaut could switch to manual control. The Vostok ships were not adapted for manned flights to the moon, and also did not allow the possibility of flights of people who had not undergone special training.
"Sunrise"
Multi-seat Voskhod spacecraft carried out flights in near-Earth orbit. These ships actually repeated the ships of the Vostok series and consisted of a spherical descent vehicle with a diameter of 2.3 meters, in which the astronauts were accommodated, and a conical instrument compartment (weight 2.27 tons, length 2.25 m and width 2.43 m. ), which contained the fuel tanks and propulsion system. In the Voskhod-1 spacecraft, the cosmonauts settled down without space suits to save space. The first space crew included the designer of the descent vehicles Konstantin Feoktistov.
"Union"
"Soyuz" - a series of multi-seat spacecraft for flights in near-Earth orbit.
The Soyuz rocket and space complex began to be designed in 1962 as a ship of the Soviet program for flying around the moon.
The ships of this series consist of three modules: an instrument-aggregate compartment, a descent vehicle, and a utility compartment.
The power supply system consists of solar panels and batteries.
The descent vehicle contains places for astronauts, life support systems, control systems, and a parachute system. The length of the compartment is 2.24 m, the diameter is 2.2 m. The household compartment has a length of 3.4 m, a diameter of 2.25 m.
Conclusion
All the best and most modern developments of mankind, the latest advanced technologies and on-board equipment are used on spacecraft.
Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz were replaced by more advanced orbital stations of a new generation and new capabilities.
They opened another page in the history of not only Russian but also world cosmonautics, they united cosmonauts from many countries.
Later, "Shuttles", "Burans" and other spacecraft appeared, but it was these three described in my work that served as the basis for the development of modern aircraft.
I really hope that when I grow up, I can also create or help create a new ultra-modern spacecraft that will fly to very distant galaxies.
Bibliography
- Encyclopedic Dictionary of a Young Astronomer. Moscow. 2006 Compiled by Erpylev N.P.;
- Encyclopedia for children. Cosmonautics. Moscow. 2010
- Great feats. Series "Encyclopedia of discoveries and adventures". Moscow. 2008
SPACESHIPS(KK) - spacecraft designed for human flight -.
The first flight into space on the Vostok spacecraft was made on April 12, 1961 by the Soviet pilot-cosmonaut Yu. A. Gagarin. The mass of the spacecraft "Vostok" together with the cosmonaut is 4725 kg, the maximum flight altitude above the Earth is 327 km. The flight of Yuri Gagarin lasted only 108 minutes, but it was of historical significance: it was proved that a person can live and work in space. “He called us all into space,” said American astronaut Neil Armstrong.
Spacecraft are launched either for an independent purpose (conducting scientific and technical research and experiments, observing the Earth and natural phenomena in the surrounding space from space, testing and testing new systems and equipment), or for the purpose of delivering crews to orbital stations. CC is created and launched by the USSR and the USA.
In total, up to January 1, 1986, 112 flights of spacecraft of various types with crews were carried out: 58 flights of Soviet spacecraft and 54 American. In these flights, 93 spacecraft were used (58 Soviet and 35 American). 195 people flew into space on them - 60 Soviet and 116 American cosmonauts, as well as one cosmonaut each from Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia, Romania, France and India, who made flights as part of international crews on the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft and Salyut orbital stations, three cosmonauts from Germany and one cosmonaut each from Canada, France, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and Mexico, who flew on the American reusable Space Shuttle.
Unlike automatic spacecraft, each spacecraft has three main mandatory elements: a pressurized compartment with a life support system in which the crew lives and works in space; descent vehicle for crew return to Earth; orientation, control and propulsion systems for changing the orbit and leaving it before landing (the latter element is typical for many automatic satellites and AMS).
The life support system creates and maintains in the hermetic compartment the conditions necessary for human life and activity: an artificial gaseous environment (air) of a certain chemical composition, with certain pressure, temperature, humidity; satisfies the crew's needs for oxygen, food, water; removes human waste (for example, absorbs carbon dioxide exhaled by a person). During short-term flights, oxygen reserves can be stored on board the spacecraft; during long-term flights, oxygen can be obtained, for example, by electrolysis of water or decomposition of carbon dioxide.
Reentry vehicles to return the crew to Earth use parachute systems to slow down their rate of descent before landing. The descent vehicles of the American spacecraft land on the water surface, the Soviet spacecraft - on the solid surface of the earth. Therefore, the Soyuz descent vehicles additionally have soft-landing engines that operate directly at the surface and sharply reduce the landing speed. The descent vehicles also have powerful outer heat shields, since when entering the dense layers of the atmosphere at high speeds, their outer surfaces heat up to very high temperatures due to air friction.
Spaceships of the USSR: Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz. Academician S.P. Korolev played an outstanding role in their creation. Remarkable flights were made on these spaceships, which became milestones in the development of astronautics. On the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 spacecraft, cosmonauts A. G. Nikolaev and P. R. Popovich performed the first group flight. Spacecraft "Vostok-6" lifted into space the first female cosmonaut V. V. Tereshkova. From the Voskhod-2 spacecraft piloted by P. I. Belyaev, cosmonaut A. A. Leonov for the first time in the world made a spacewalk in a special space suit. The first experimental orbital station in Earth satellite orbit was created by docking the Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5 spacecraft piloted by cosmonauts V. A. Shatalov and B. V. Volynov, A. S. Eliseev, E. V. Khru -new. A. S. Eliseev and E. V. Khrunov went into outer space and transferred to the Soyuz-4 spacecraft. Many Soyuz spacecraft were used to deliver crews to the Salyut orbital stations.
Spaceship "Vostok"
Soyuz is the most advanced manned spacecraft created in the USSR. They are designed to perform a wide range of tasks in near-Earth space: servicing orbital stations, studying the effects of long-term space flight on the human body, conducting experiments in the interests of science and the national economy, and testing new space technology. The mass of the Soyuz spacecraft is 6800 kg, the maximum length is 7.5 m, the maximum diameter is 2.72 m, the span of solar panels is 8.37 m, the total volume of living quarters is 10 m3. The spacecraft consists of three compartments: the descent module, the orbital compartment and the instrument-aggregate compartment.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-19".
In the descent vehicle, the crew is in the area of launching the spacecraft into orbit, while controlling the spacecraft in flight in orbit, while returning to Earth. The orbital compartment is a laboratory in which astronauts conduct scientific research and observations, exercise, eat and rest. This compartment is equipped with places for work, rest and sleep of astronauts. The orbital compartment can be used as an airlock for astronauts to enter outer space. The main on-board equipment and propulsion systems of the ship are located in the instrument-assembly compartment. Part of the compartment is sealed. Inside it, the conditions necessary for the normal functioning of the thermal control system, power supply, radio communication and telemetry equipment, and orientation and motion control system devices are maintained. In the non-pressurized part of the compartment, a liquid propellant propulsion system is mounted, which is used to maneuver the spacecraft in orbit, as well as to deorbit the spacecraft. It consists of two engines with a thrust of 400 kg each. Depending on the flight program and refueling of the propulsion system, the Soyuz spacecraft can perform altitude maneuvers up to 1300 km.
Until January 1, 1986, 54 spacecraft of the Soyuz type and its improved version Soyuz T were launched (of which 3 were uncrewed).
Launch vehicle with the Soyuz-15 spacecraft before launch.
US spacecraft: single-seat "Mercury" (6 spacecraft were launched), two-seat "Gemini" (10 spacecraft), three-seat "Apollo" (15 spacecraft) and multi-seat reusable spacecraft created under the Space Shuttle program. The greatest success was achieved by American astronautics with the help of the Apollo spacecraft, designed to deliver expeditions to the moon. A total of 7 such expeditions were undertaken, of which 6 were successful. The first expedition to the Moon took place on July 16-24, 1969 on the Apollo 11 spacecraft, piloted by a crew of cosmonauts N. Armstrong, E. Aldrin and M. Collins. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in the lunar compartment of the ship, while Collins in the Apollo main block flew in lunar orbit. The lunar compartment stayed on the Moon for 21 hours and 36 minutes, of which the cosmonauts spent more than 2 hours directly on the surface of the Moon. Then they launched from the Moon in the lunar compartment, docked with the main block of the Apollo and, dropping the used lunar compartment, headed for Earth. On July 24, the expedition safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
The third expedition to the moon was unsuccessful: on the way to the moon with Apollo 13, an accident occurred, the landing on the moon was canceled. Having circumnavigated our natural satellite and overcame colossal difficulties, astronauts J. Lovell, F. Hayes, and J. Swidgert returned to Earth.
On the Moon, American astronauts conducted scientific observations, placed instruments that worked after their departure from the Moon, and delivered samples of lunar soil to Earth.
In the early 80s. in the United States, a new type of spacecraft was created - the Space Shuttle (Space Shuttle) reusable spacecraft. Structurally, the space transport system "Space Shuttle" is an orbital stage - an aircraft with three liquid rocket engines (rocket plane), - attached to an external external fuel tank with two solid propellant boosters. Like conventional launch vehicles, the Space Shuttle launches vertically (the launch weight of the system is 2040 tons). The fuel tank separates after use and burns in the atmosphere, boosters after separation splash down in the Atlantic Ocean and can be reused.
The launch weight of the orbital stage is about 115 tons, including a payload of about 30 tons and a crew of 6-8 cosmonauts; fuselage length - 32.9 m, wingspan - 23.8 m.
After completing tasks in space, the orbital stage returns to Earth, landing like a conventional aircraft, and can be reused in the future.
The main purpose of the Space Shuttle is to perform shuttle flights along the Earth-orbit-Earth route to deliver various payloads (satellites, elements of orbital stations, etc.) to relatively low orbits, as well as conduct various studies in space and experiments. The US Department of Defense plans to widely use the Space Shuttle for the militarization of outer space, which the Soviet Union strongly opposes.
The first flight of the reusable Space Shuttle took place in April 1981.
Until January 1, 1986, 23 spacecraft flights of this type took place, while 4 orbital stages "Columbia", "Challenger", "Disk Veri" and "Atlantis" were used.
In July 1975, an important international space experiment was carried out in near-Earth orbit: the ships of the two countries, the Soviet Soyuz-19 and the American Apollo, took part in a joint flight. In orbit, the ships docked, and for two days there was a space system of the spacecraft of the two countries. The significance of this experiment lies in the fact that a major scientific and technical problem of the compatibility of spacecraft was solved for the implementation of a joint flight program with rendezvous and docking, mutual transfer of crews, and joint scientific research.
The joint flight of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft, piloted by cosmonauts A. A. Leonov and V. N. Kubasov, and the Apollo spacecraft, piloted by cosmonauts T. Stafford, V. Brand and D. Slayton, became a historic event in cosmonautics. This flight showed that the USSR and the USA can cooperate not only on Earth, but also in space.
In the period from March 1978 to May 1981, the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft and the Salyut-6 orbital station carried out flights of nine international crews under the Interkosmos program. In space, international crews performed a great deal of scientific work - they conducted about 150 scientific and technical experiments in the field of space biology and medicine, astrophysics, space materials science, geophysics, Earth observation in order to study its natural resources.
In 1982, a Soviet-French international crew flew on the Soviet Soyuz T-6 spacecraft and the Salyut-7 orbital station, and in April 1984, on the Soviet Soyuz T-11 spacecraft and the Salyut-7 orbital station 7" Soviet and Indian cosmonauts flew.
Flights of international crews on Soviet spacecraft and orbital stations are of great importance for the development of world cosmonautics and the development of friendly ties between the peoples of various countries.
Soyuz spacecraft
"Soyuz" - the name of a series of Soviet spacecraft for flights in orbit around the Earth; a program for their development (since 1962) and launches (since 1967; unmanned modifications - since 1966). Soyuz spacecraft are designed to solve a wide range of tasks in near-Earth space: testing the processes of autonomous navigation, control, maneuvering, rendezvous and docking; studying the effects of long-term space flight conditions on the human body; verification of the principles of using manned spacecraft for Earth exploration in the interests of the national economy and the performance of transport operations for communication with orbital stations; conducting scientific and technical experiments in outer space and others.
The mass of a fully refueled and completed ship is from 6.38 tons (initial versions) to 6.8 tons, the crew size is 2 people (3 people - in modifications before 1971), the maximum duration of an autonomous flight is 17.7 days (with a crew of 2 people ), length (along the hull) 6.98-7.13 m, diameter 2.72 m, span of solar panels 8.37 m, volume of two residential compartments along the pressurized hull 10.45 m3, free space - 6.5 m3. The Soyuz spacecraft consists of three main compartments, which are mechanically interconnected and separated using pyrotechnic devices. The structure of the ship includes: a system of orientation and motion control in flight and during descent; mooring and attitude thruster system; rendezvous and corrective propulsion system; radio communication, power supply, docking, radio guidance and rendezvous and mooring systems; landing and soft landing system; life supporting system; control system of the onboard instrumentation and equipment complex.
The descent vehicle - weight 2.8 tons, diameter 2.2 m, length 2.16 m, volume along the internal contours of the habitable compartment 3.85 m flight in orbit, during descent in the atmosphere, parachuting, landing. The sealed body of the descent vehicle, made of aluminum alloy, has a conical shape, turning into a sphere in the lower and upper parts. For ease of installation of apparatus and equipment inside the descent vehicle, the frontal part of the body is made removable. Outside, the hull has thermal insulation, structurally consisting of a frontal screen (fired off in the parachuting area), side and bottom thermal protection, the shape of the apparatus and the position of the center of mass provide a controlled descent with an aerodynamic quality (~0.25). In the upper part of the hull there is a hatch (clearance diameter 0.6 m) for communication with the inhabited orbital compartment and exit of the crew from the descent vehicle after landing. The descent vehicle is equipped with three windows, two of which have a three-pane design and one has a two-pane design (at the location of the orienting sight). The hull contains two airtight parachute containers closed with removable lids. 4 soft landing engines are installed on the frontal part of the hull. Landing speed on the main parachute system, taking into account the impulse of the soft landing engines, is not more than 6 m/s. The descent vehicle is designed for landing at any time of the year on soils of various types (including rock) and open water bodies. When landing on water bodies, the crew can stay afloat in the vehicle for up to 5 days.
The descent vehicle contains the cosmonauts' console, spacecraft control knobs, instruments and equipment of the main and auxiliary systems of the spacecraft, containers for the return of scientific equipment, reserve stock (food, equipment, medicines, etc.) radio communications and direction finding on the descent and after landing areas, etc. Inside, the hull and equipment of the descent vehicle are covered with thermal insulation in combination with decorative cladding. When launching the Soyuz into orbit, descending to Earth, performing docking and undocking operations, the crew members are in spacesuits (introduced after 1971). To ensure the flight under the ASTP program, the descent vehicle was provided with a control panel for compatible (operating at the same frequencies) radio stations and external lights, and special lamps were installed to transmit a color television image.
Inhabited orbital (domestic) compartment - weight 1.2-1.3 tons, diameter 2.2 m, length (with docking unit) 3.44 m, volume along the internal contours of the sealed case 6.6 m3, free volume 4 m3 - it is used as a working compartment during scientific experiments, for crew rest, transfer to another spacecraft and for exit into outer space (acts as an airlock). The pressurized body of the orbital compartment, made of magnesium alloy, consists of two hemispherical shells with a diameter of 2.2 m, connected by a cylindrical insert 0.3 m high. The compartment has two viewing windows. There are two hatches in the hull, one of which connects the orbital compartment with the descent vehicle, and the other (with a “clear” diameter of 0.64 m) is used for landing the crew in the spacecraft at the launch position and for spacewalk. The compartment contains the control panel, instruments and assemblies of the main and auxiliary systems of the ship, household equipment, and scientific equipment. When testing and ensuring docking of automatic and manned modifications of spacecraft, if they are used as transport vehicles, a docking unit is installed in the upper part of the orbital compartment, which performs the following functions: absorption (damping) of spacecraft impact energy; primary hitch; alignment and contraction of ships; rigid connection of ship structures (starting with Soyuz-10 - with the creation of a sealed joint between them); undocking and separation of spacecraft. Three types of docking devices have been used in the Soyuz spacecraft:
the first, made according to the "pin-cone" scheme; the second, also made according to this scheme, but with the creation of an airtight joint between the docked ships to ensure the transfer of the crew from one ship to another;
(the third in the experiment under the ASTP program), which is a new, technically more advanced device - an androgynous peripheral docking unit (APAS). Structurally, the docking device of the first two types consists of two parts: an active docking unit installed on one of the spacecraft and equipped with a mechanism for performing all docking operations, and a passive docking unit installed on another spacecraft.
The instrument-assembly compartment weighing 2.7-2.8 tons is designed to accommodate the apparatus and equipment of the main systems of the spacecraft, which ensure orbital flight. It consists of transitional, instrumental and aggregate sections. In the transition section, made in the form of a uniform structure connecting the descent vehicle with the instrument section, 10 approaching and orientation engines with a thrust of 100 N each, fuel tanks and a single-component fuel supply system (hydrogen peroxide) are installed. Hermetic instrument section with a volume of 2.2 m3, has the shape of a cylinder with a diameter of 2.1 m, a height of 0.5 m with two removable covers. The instrument section contains devices for orientation and motion control systems, control of the onboard complex of apparatus and equipment of the ship, radio communication with the Earth and a program-time device, telemetry, and a single power supply. The body of the aggregate section is made in the form of a cylindrical shell, turning into a conical one and ending with a base frame designed to install the ship on the launch vehicle. Outside the power section there is a large radiator-emitter of the thermal control system, 4 mooring and orientation motors, 8 orientation motors. In the aggregate section there is a rendezvous and corrective propulsion system KTDU-35, consisting of the main and backup engines with a thrust of 4.1 kN, fuel tanks and a two-component fuel supply system. Radio communication and telemetry antennas, ion sensors of the orientation system and part of the batteries of the ship's unified power supply system are installed near the base frame. Solar panels (they are not installed on ships used as transport ships for servicing the Salyut orbital stations) are made in the form of two "wings" of 3-4 wings each. Radio communication antennas, telemetry and color on-board orientation lights (in the experiment under the ASTP program) are placed on the end flaps of the batteries.
All compartments of the spacecraft are closed from the outside with screen-vacuum thermal insulation of green color. When launching into orbit - in the flight segment in dense layers of the atmosphere, the ship is closed by a drop nose fairing, equipped with an emergency rescue system propulsion system.
The ship's orientation and motion control system can operate both in automatic mode and in manual control mode. The onboard equipment receives energy from a centralized power supply system, including solar, as well as autonomous chemical batteries and buffer batteries. After docking the spacecraft with the orbital station, solar panels can be used in the general power supply system.
The life support system includes blocks for regenerating the atmosphere of the descent vehicle and the orbital compartment (similar in composition to the Earth's air) and thermal control, food and water supplies, and a sewage and sanitary device. Regeneration is provided by substances that absorb carbon dioxide while releasing oxygen. Special filters absorb harmful impurities. In the event of a possible emergency depressurization of the living compartments, spacesuits are provided for the crew. When working in them, the conditions for life are created by supplying air to the spacesuit from the onboard pressurization system.
The thermal control system maintains the air temperature in the residential compartments within 15-25 ° C and relates. humidity within 20-70%; gas temperature (nitrogen) in the instrument section 0-40°C.
The complex of radio engineering means is designed to determine the parameters of the spacecraft orbit, receive commands from the Earth, two-way telephone and telegraph communication with the Earth, transmit television images of the situation in the compartments and the external environment observed by the TV camera to the Earth.
For 1967 - 1981 38 Soyuz manned spacecraft were launched into the orbit of an artificial Earth satellite.
Soyuz-1, piloted by V.M. Komarov, was launched on April 23, 1967 in order to test the ship and work out the systems and elements of its design. During the descent (on the 19th orbit), Soyuz-1 successfully passed the deceleration section in the dense layers of the atmosphere and extinguished the first cosmic velocity. However, due to the abnormal operation of the parachute system at an altitude of ~7 km, the descent vehicle descended at a high speed, which led to the death of the cosmonaut.
The spacecraft Soyuz-2 (unmanned) and Soyuz-3 (piloted by G.T. Beregov) made a joint flight to test the operation of systems and construction, to practice rendezvous and maneuvering. At the end of the joint experiments, the ships made a controlled descent using aerodynamic quality.
A formation flight was carried out on Soyuz-6, Soyuz-7, Soyuz-8 spacecraft. A program of scientific and technical experiments was carried out, including testing methods for welding and cutting metals in conditions of deep vacuum and weightlessness, navigation operations were practiced, mutual maneuvering was carried out, the ships interacted with each other and with ground command and measurement posts, and simultaneous flight control of three spacecraft was carried out.
The Soyuz-23 and Soyuz-25 spacecraft were scheduled to dock with the Salyut-type orbital station. Due to incorrect operation of the equipment for measuring relative motion parameters (the Soyuz-23 spacecraft), deviations from the specified operating mode in the manual berthing section (Soyuz-25), docking did not take place. On these ships, maneuvering and rendezvous with orbital stations of the Salyut type were carried out.
In the course of long-term space flights, a large complex of studies of the Sun, planets and stars was carried out in a wide range of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. For the first time (Soyuz-18), a comprehensive photo- and spectrographic study of auroras, as well as a rare natural phenomenon - noctilucent clouds, was carried out. Comprehensive studies of the reactions of the human body to the effects of long-term space flight factors have been carried out. Various means of preventing the adverse effects of weightlessness have been tested.
During the 3-month flight Soyuz-20, together with Salyut-4, endurance tests were carried out.
On the basis of Soyuz spacecraft, a cargo transport spacecraft GTK Progress was created, and on the basis of the experience of operating Soyuz spacecraft, a significantly modernized Soyuz T spacecraft was created.
Soyuz spacecraft were launched by a 3-stage Soyuz launch vehicle.
Soyuz spacecraft program.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-1". Cosmonaut - V.M. Komarov. The call sign is Ruby. Launch - 04/23/1967, landing - 04/24/1967. The goal is to test a new ship. It was planned to dock with the Soyuz-2 spacecraft with three cosmonauts on board, two cosmonauts go through open space, and land with three cosmonauts on board. Due to the failure of a number of systems on the Soyuz-1 spacecraft, the Soyuz-2 launch was canceled. (This program was carried out in 1969 by the spacecraft
"Soyuz-4" and "Soyuz-5"). Astronaut Vladimir Komarov died while returning to Earth due to off-design work of the parachute system.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-2" (unmanned). Launch - 10/25/1968, landing - 10/28/1968. Purpose: verification of the modified ship design, joint experiments with the manned Soyuz-3 (rapprochement and maneuvering).
Spacecraft "Soyuz-3". Cosmonaut - G.T. Beregovoy. The call sign is "Argon". Launch - 10/26/1968, landing - 10/30/1968 Purpose: verification of the modified ship design, rendezvous and maneuvering with the unmanned Soyuz-2.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-4". The first docking into orbit of two manned spacecraft is the creation of the first experimental orbital station. Commander - V.A.Shatalov. The call sign is "Amur". Launch - 14.01.1969 16.01. 1969 docked manually with the Soyuz-5 passive spacecraft (the mass of the bundle of two spacecraft is 12924 kg), from which two cosmonauts A.S. Eliseev and E.V. Khrunov crossed through open space into Soyuz-4 (time spent in outer space - 37 minutes). After 4.5 hours, the ships undocked. Landing - 01/17/1969 with cosmonauts V.A. Shatalov, A.S. Eliseev, E.V. Khrunov.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-5". The first orbital docking of two manned spacecraft is the creation of the first experimental orbital station. Commander - B.V. Volynov, crew members: A.S. Eliseev, E.V. Khrunov. The call sign is Baikal. Launch - 01/15/1969 01/16/1969 docked with the active spacecraft "Soyuz-4" (the mass of the bundle is 12924 kg), then A.S. Eliseev and E.V. Khrunov went through open space to "Soyuz-4" ”(time spent in open space - 37 minutes). After 4.5 hours, the ships undocked. Landing - 01/18/1969 with cosmonaut B.V. Volynov.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-6". Performing the world's first technological experiment. Group mutual maneuvering of two and three spacecraft (With Soyuz-7 and Soyuz-8 spacecraft). Crew: commander G.S. Shonin and flight engineer V.N. Kubasov. The call sign is "Antey". Launch - 10/11/1969 Landing - 10/16/1969
Spacecraft "Soyuz-7". Performing group mutual maneuvering of two and three ships ("Soyuz-6" and "Soyuz-8"). Crew: commander A.V.Filipchenko, crew members: V.N.Volkov, V.V.Gorbatko. The call sign is Buran. Launch - 10/12/1969, landing - 10/17/1969
Spacecraft "Soyuz-8". Group mutual maneuvering of two and three ships ("Soyuz-6" and "Soyuz-7"). Crew: commander V.A. Shatalov, flight engineer A.S. Eliseev. The call sign is "Granite". Launch - 10/13/1969, landing - 10/18/1969
Spacecraft "Soyuz-9". First long flight (17.7 days). Crew: commander A.G. Nikolaev, flight engineer - V.I. Sevastyanov. The call sign is "Falcon". Launch - 06/1/1970, landing - 06/19/1970
Spacecraft "Soyuz-10". First docking with the Salyut orbital station. Crew: commander V.A. Shatalov, crew members: A.S. Eliseev, N.N. Rukavishnikov. The call sign is "Granite". Launch - 04/23/1971 Landing - 04/25/1971 Docking was completed with the Salyut orbital station (04/24/1971), but the crew could not open the transfer hatches to the station, 04/24/1971 the spacecraft separated from the orbital station and returned ahead of schedule.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-11". The first expedition to the Salyut orbital station. Crew: commander G.T.Dobrovolsky, crew members: V.N.Volkov, V.I.Patsaev. Launch - 06/06/1971. On 06/07/1971, the ship docked with the Salyut orbital station. 06/29/1971 Soyuz-11 undocked from the orbital station. 06/30/1971 - landing was carried out. Due to the depressurization of the descent vehicle at high altitude, all crew members died (the flight was carried out without spacesuits).
Spacecraft "Soyuz-12". Conducting tests of advanced on-board systems of the ship. Checking the crew rescue system in case of emergency depressurization. Crew: commander V.G. Lazarev, flight engineer O.G. Makarov. The call sign is "Ural". Launch - 09/27/1973, landing - 09/29/1973
Spacecraft "Soyuz-13". Performing astrophysical observations and spectrography in the ultraviolet range using the Orion-2 telescope system of sections of the starry sky. Crew: commander P.I. Klimuk, flight engineer V.V. Lebedev. The call sign is "Kavkaz". Launch - 12/18/1973, landing - 12/26/1973
Spacecraft "Soyuz-14". The first expedition to the Salyut-3 orbital station. Crew: commander P.R.Popovich, flight engineer Yu.P.Artyukhin. The call sign is Berkut. Launch - July 3, 1974, docking with the orbital station - July 5, 1974, separation - July 19, 1974, landing - July 19, 1974.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-15". Crew: commander G.V. Sarafanov, flight engineer L.S. Demin. The call sign is "Danube". Launched on August 26, 1974, landing on August 28, 1974. It was planned to dock with the Salyut-3 orbital station and continue scientific research on board. The docking did not take place.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-16". Testing of the on-board systems of the modernized Soyuz spacecraft in accordance with the ASTP program. Crew: commander A.V. Filipchenko, flight engineer N.N. Rukavishnikov. The call sign is Buran. Launch - 12/2/1974, landing - 12/8/1974
Spacecraft "Soyuz-17". The first expedition to the Salyut-4 orbital station. Crew: commander A.A. Gubarev, flight engineer G.M. Grechko. The call sign is "Zenith". Launch - 01/11/1975, docking with the Salyut-4 orbital station - 01/12/1975, separation and soft landing - 02/09/1975.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-18-1". Suborbital flight. Crew: commander V.G. Lazarev, flight engineer O.G. Makarov. Callsign - not registered. Launch and landing - 04/05/1975. It was planned to continue scientific research at the Salyut-4 orbital station. Due to deviations in the operation of the 3rd stage of the launch vehicle, a command was issued to terminate the flight. The spacecraft landed in an off-design area southwest of the city of Gorno-Altaisk
Spacecraft "Soyuz-18". The second expedition to the Salyut-4 orbital station. Crew: commander P.I. Klimuk, flight engineer V.I. Sevastyanov. The call sign is "Kavkaz". Launch - 05/24/1975, docking with the Salyut-4 orbital station - 05/26/1975, separation, descent and soft landing - 07/26/1975
Spacecraft "Soyuz-19". The first flight under the Soviet-American ASTP program. Crew: commander - A.A. Leonov, flight engineer V.N. Kubasov. The call sign is Soyuz. Launch - 07/15/1975, 07/17/1975 -
docking with the American spacecraft "Apollo". On July 19, 1975, the spacecraft undocked, performing the "Solar Eclipse" experiment, then (July 19) the re-docking and final undocking of the two spacecraft was carried out. Landing - 07/21/1975. During the joint flight, the cosmonauts and astronauts made mutual transitions, a large scientific program was completed.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-20". Unmanned. Launch - 11/17/1975, docking with the Salyut-4 orbital station - 11/19/1975, separation, descent and landing - 02/16/1975. Life tests of the ship's onboard systems were carried out.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-21". The first expedition to the Salyut-5 orbital station. Crew: commander B.V. Volynov, flight engineer V.M. Zholobov. The call sign is Baikal. Launch - 07/06/1976, docking with the Salyut-5 orbital station - 07/07/1976, undocking, descent and landing - 08/24/1976
Spacecraft "Soyuz-22". Development of the principles and methods of multi-zonal photography of areas of the earth's surface. Crew: commander V.F. Bykovsky, flight engineer V.V. Aksenov. The call sign is "Hawk". Launch - 09/15/1976, landing - 09/23/1976
Spacecraft "Soyuz-23". Crew: commander V.D. Zudov, flight engineer V.I. Rozhdestvensky. The call sign is "Radon". Launch - 10/14/1976 Landing - 10/16/1976 Work was planned at the Salyut-5 orbital station. Due to the off-design mode of operation of the spacecraft rendezvous system, docking with Salyut-5 did not take place.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-24". The second expedition to the Salyut-5 orbital station. Crew: commander V.V. Gorbatko, flight engineer Yu.N. Glazkov. The call sign is "Terek". Launch - 02/07/1977 Docking with the Salyut-5 orbital station - 02/08/1976 Undocking, descent and landing - 02/25/1977
Spacecraft "Soyuz-25". Crew: commander V.V. Kovalenok, flight engineer V.V. Ryumin. The call sign is "Photon". Launch - 10/9/1977 Landing - 10/11/1977 It was planned to dock with the new Salyut-6 orbital station and carry out a scientific research program on it. The docking did not take place.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-26". Delivery of the crew of the 1st main expedition to the Salyut-6 orbital station. Crew: commander Yu.V.Romanenko, flight engineer G.M.Grechko. Launch - 12/10/1977 Docking with Salyut-6 - 12/11/1977 Undocking, descent and landing - 01/16/1978 with the crew of the 1st visiting expedition consisting of: V.A. Dzhanibekov, O.G. .Makarov (for the first time there was an exchange of spacecraft included in the Salyut-6 complex).
Spacecraft "Soyuz-27". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station of the 1st visiting expedition. Crew: commander V.A. Dzhanibekov, flight engineer O.G. Makarov. Launch - 01/10/1978 Docking with the Salyut-6 orbital station - 01/11/1978 Separation, descent and landing on 03/16/1978 with the crew of the 1st main expedition consisting of: Yu.V. Romanenko, G. M. Grechko.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-28". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station of the 1st international crew (the 2nd visiting expedition). Crew: commander - A.A. Gubarev, cosmonaut-researcher - citizen of Czechoslovakia V. Remek. Launch - 03/2/1978 Docking with Salyut-6 - 03/3/1978 Docking, descent and landing - 03/10/1978
Spacecraft "Soyuz-29". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station of the crew of the 2nd main expedition. Crew: commander - V.V. Kovalenok, flight engineer - A.S. Ivanchenkov. Launch - 06/15/1978 Docking with Salyut-6 - 06/17/1978 Undocking, descent and landing on 09/03/1978 with the crew of the 4th visiting expedition consisting of: V.F. Bykovsky, Z. Yen ( GDR).
Spacecraft "Soyuz-30". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station and return of the crew of the 3rd visiting expedition (the second international crew). Crew: commander P.I. Klimuk, cosmonaut-researcher, citizen of Poland M. Germashevsky. Launch - 06/27/1978 Docking with Salyut-6 - 06/28/1978 Docking, descent and landing - 07/05/1978
Spacecraft "Soyuz-31". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station of the crew of the 4th visiting expedition (3rd international crew). Crew: commander - VF Bykovsky, cosmonaut-researcher, citizen of the GDR Z. Yen. Launch - 08/26/1978 Docking with the Salyut-6 orbital station - 08/27/1978 Docking, descent and landing - 11/2/1978 with the crew of the 2nd main expedition consisting of: V.V. Kovalenok, A .S. Ivanchenkov.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-32". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station of the 3rd main expedition. Crew: commander V.A. Lyakhov, flight engineer V.V. Ryumin. Launch - 02/25/1979 Docking with Salyut-6 - 02/26/1979 Undocking, descent and landing on 06/13/1979 without a crew in automatic mode.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-33". Crew: commander N.N. Rukavishnikov, cosmonaut-researcher, citizen of Bulgaria G.I. Ivanov. The call sign is Saturn. Launch - 04/10/1979. On 04/11/1979, due to deviations from the normal mode in the operation of the rendezvous-correcting installation, docking with the Salyut-6 orbital station was canceled. 04/12/1979 the ship made a descent and landing.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-34". Launch 06/06/1979 without a crew. Docking with the Salyut-6 orbital station - 06/08/1979 06/19/1979 undocking, descent and landing with the crew of the 3rd main expedition consisting of: V.A.Lyakhov, V.V.Ryumin. (The descent module is exhibited at the State Museum of the Interior named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky).
Spacecraft "Soyuz-35". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station of the 4th main expedition. Crew: commander L.I. Popov, flight engineer V.V. Ryumin. Launch - 04/09/1980 Docking with Salyut-6 - 04/10/1980 Undocking, descent and landing on 06/03/1980 with the crew of the 5th visiting expedition (4th international crew consisting of: V.N. Kubasov, B. Farkash.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-36". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station of the crew of the 5th visiting expedition (4th international crew). Crew: commander VN Kubasov, cosmonaut-researcher, citizen of Hungary B. Farkas. Launch - 05/26/1980 Docking with Salyut-6 - 05/27/1980 Docking, descent and landing on 08/3/1980 with the crew of the 7th visiting expedition consisting of: V.V. Gorbatko, Pham Tuan (Vietnam) ).
Spacecraft "Soyuz-37". Delivery to the orbital station of the crew of the 7th visiting expedition (5th international crew). Crew: commander V.V. Gorbatko, cosmonaut-researcher, Vietnamese citizen Pham Tuan. Launch - 07/23/1980 Docking with Salyut-6 - 07/24/1980 Docking, descent and landing - 10/11/1980 with the crew of the 4th main expedition consisting of: L.I. Popov, V.V. .Ryumin.
Spacecraft "Soyuz-38". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station and return of the crew of the 8th visiting expedition (6th international crew). Crew: commander Yu.V.Romanenko, cosmonaut-researcher, Cuban citizen M.A.Tamayo. Launch - 09/18/1980 Docking with Salyut-6 - 09/19/1980 Docking, descent and landing 09/26/1980
Spacecraft "Soyuz-39". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station and return of the 10th visiting crew (7th international crew). Crew: commander V.A. Dzhanibekov, cosmonaut-researcher, citizen of Mongolia Zh. Gurragcha. Launch - 03/22/1981 Docking with Salyut-6 - 03/23/1981 Docking, descent and landing - 03/30/1981
Spacecraft "Soyuz-40". Delivery to the Salyut-6 orbital station and return of the crew of the 11th visiting expedition (8th international crew). Crew: commander L.I.Popov, cosmonaut-researcher, citizen of Romania D.Prunariu. Launch - 05/14/1981 Docking with Salyut-6 - 05/15/1981 Docking, descent and landing 05/22/1981