Category Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006

Flight Crew

GIDZENKO, Yuri Pavlovich, 33, Russian Air Force, commander AVDEYEV, Sergei Vasilyevich, 39, civilian, flight engineer, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz TM15 (1992)

REITER, Thomas, 37, German Air Force, cosmonaut researcher

Flight Log

The next resident crew arrived at Mir on 5 September. Thomas Reiter, a German ESA astronaut, was flying the EuroMir95 mission, and had received complete training for an extended mission. He was also qualified for assignment as a Soyuz flight engineer and for EVAs using the Orlan DMA pressure garment. The EuroMir95 mission included an EVA and a programme of 41 experiments that incorporated 18 biomedical, 10 technical and 8 materials-processing experiments. On 17 October, it was announced that the mission had been extended by another three weeks and that a second EVA was planned for Reiter. This agreement was also in part due to financial difficulties in the Russian programme, in particular problems with paying workers to complete the fabrication of launchers and spacecraft. The resulting delays meant that the launch of the next resident crew had to be put back, so Reiter’s eventual 44-day mission extension gave him a 179-day stay aboard Mir.

For the first EVA (20 Oct 1995, 5 hours 16 minutes), Reiter accompanied Avdeyev to install the European Science Exposure Facility (ESEF) and to exchange experiment cassettes on a Russian experiment designed to trap ambient particle debris and to record the velocity, mass and trajectory of each impact particle. The second EVA (8 Dec 1995,29 minute IVA) was conducted by both Russian cosmonauts from inside the base block docking node, to transfer the docking drogue from the —Z port to the +Z port in order to receive Priroda, the final Mir module, the following year. During this EVA, Reiter remained inside the Soyuz TM22 Descent Module for safety reasons. For the final excursion (8 Feb 1996, 3 hours 6 minutes), Reiter was accompanied by

The three Mir EO-20 crew members in the Docking Module delivered to Mir by STS-74. In the centre is ESA cosmonaut researcher Thomas Reiter, holding the camera is Sergey Avdeyev, and on the left is commander Yuri Gidzenko

Gidzenko. The pair had been trained for this excursion by radio instructions from the ground, as a third EVA was not part of the original flight plan. The first task was to move the SDPK MMU (used in early 1990) outside the Kvant —Z hatch in order to make more room inside the airlock area. They also removed dust collectors, but were unable to remove a faulty antenna as they did not have the required tools.

Once again, maintenance and repair tasks took priority over science, one of the problems being the sheer amount of equipment and unwanted hardware being built up

on the station. Indeed, Reiter finally found his centrifuge after mislaying it for two months. This residency was visited by STS-74, the second Shuttle docking mission, in November. The Shuttle also delivered the Russian-supplied Docking Module, enabling the docking facility to be moved further away from the main modules for better vision during future Shuttle dockings. On 20 February 1996, the base block of the Mir station reached the milestone of a decade in orbit, and it looked as though (funds permitting) the station would be maintained for some years, perhaps past the turn of the century, by which point the ISS would be in orbit and operational. During the flight, Reiter compiled an educational video called Riding High, which docu­mented his life aboard the station, as well as the visit of Atlantis, his EVAs and the science research programme. ESA was pleased with the results from the two EuroMir missions and planned a 45-day EuroMir97 with Reiter’s back-up Christer Fuglesang. However, support and funding from ESA member states was not forthcoming and the mission was not flown, partly due to the desire to progress beyond Mir to ISS, where ESA would have its own science module – Columbus.

Milestones

181st manned space flight 81st Russian manned space flight 74th Soyuz manned mission 21st Soyuz TM manned mission 20th main Mir crew

27th Russian and 58th flight with EVA operations

1st EVA by two flight engineers

1st EVA by German cosmonaut

Final manned launch of Soyuz U2 launch vehicle

Avdeyev celebrates his 40th birthday in space (1 Jan)

Int. Designation	1998-003A
Launched	22 January 1998
Launch Site	Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed	31 January 1998
Landing Site	Runway 15, Shuttle Landing Facility, KSC, Florida
Launch Vehicle	OV-105 Endeavour/ET-90/SRB BI-093/SSME #1 2043; #2 2044; #3 2045
Duration	8 days 19hrs 46 min 54 sec Thomas 140 days 15hrs 12min 6sec (landing on STS-91)
Call sign	Endeavour
Objective	8th Shuttle-Mir docking mission; delivery of NASA 7 (Thomas) Mir EO-25 crew member; return of NASA 6 (Wolf) Mir EO-24 crew member

Flight Crew

WILCUTT, Terrence Wade, 48, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-68 (1994); STS-79 (1996)

EDWARDS Jr., Joe Frank, 39, USN, pilot

REILLY II, James Francis, 43, civilian, mission specialist 1

ANDERSON, Michael Phillip, 38, USAF, mission specialist 2

DUNBAR, Bonnie Jean, 48, civilian, mission specialist 3, payload commander,

5th mission

Previous missions: STS 61-A (1985); STS-32 (1990); STS-50 (1992); STS-71 (1995)

SHARIPOV, Salizhan Shakirovich, Russian Air Force, mission specialist 4 NASA 7 Mir resident crew member up only:

THOMAS, Andrew Sydney Withiel, 46, civilian, mission specialist 5, Mir EO-25 cosmonaut researcher, NASA board engineer 7, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-77 (1996)

NASA 6 Mir resident crew member down only:

WOLF, David Alan, 41, civilian, NASA mission specialist 5, Mir EO-24 cosmonaut researcher, NASA board engineer 6, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-58 (1993)

Flight Log

Dave Wolf’s 119-day residency aboard Mir during his 128-day mission attracted much less attention in the media than the tours of either Linenger or Foale. Wolf was

Salizan Sharipov (centre) signs the long-lived Mir roster on the base block of the space station. Some of the other Mir and Shuttle crew members look on: from left Thomas (back to camera), Solovyov, Wolf, Vinogradov, Edwards (partially obscured) and Dunbar

able to perform more science on board the station and his programme involved six areas of research – advanced technology, Earth science, fundamental biology, human life sciences, microgravity research and risk mitigation of ISS issues. In all there were 35 scientific studies and technology demonstrations comprising the NASA 6 science programme, some of which were continuations of experiments conducted by previous resident NASA astronauts. Wolf also completed a 6 hour 38 minute EVA on 14 January with veteran spacewalker Anatoly Solovyov.

Endeavour was chosen to fly the STS-89 mission instead of Discovery. Because of a schedule of work that needed to be completed on Mir, the Russians requested a postponement of the mission launch. It was initially moved from 15 January to 20 January and finally to 22 January. The docking with Mir occurred on 24 January and the exchange of American resident crew members was made the next day. For a while, it looked like Thomas might not be able to remain aboard Mir. Thomas’s Sokol pressure suit for use in the Soyuz would not fit properly and the crew exchange was allowed only after Wolf adjusted his suit to fit Thomas, as Wolf no longer needed it for his return on the Shuttle. Later, Thomas was able to make suitable adjustments to his own suit.

During the four days of joint operations, a total of 3,629 kg of scientific equip­ment, logistics and other hardware was transferred to Mir. Included in this transfer was over 730 kg of water. During the docked operations Bonnie Dunbar, on her

second visit to Mir and who could have conducted the second residence mission after Norman Thagard had the schedule been worked out early enough, acknowledged the upcoming 25th anniversary of the launch of Skylab, America’s only national space station to reach orbit. With ISS on the horizon, the Skylab programme, together with Mir and Salyut, had helped to develop techniques and procedures for endurance space flights which were still being referred to in preparation for the new station. Interest­ingly, Dunbar had been a flight controller during the de-orbiting of Skylab in 1979. Sharipov had only six months training for his Shuttle flight and had relatively few crew responsibilities during the mission. His primary responsibility was in Russian language liaison and in the transfer of logistics across to Mir. STS-89 undocked on 28 January and three days later, Soyuz TM25 docked at Mir to deliver a new resident crew, just hours before Endeavour touched down in Florida.

Milestones

204th manned space flight

119th US manned space flight

89th Shuttle mission

12th flight of Endeavour

8th Shuttle-Mir docking mission

40th US and 69th flight with EVA operations

10th SpaceHab mission (5th double module)

1st and only Endeavour-Mir docking

Int. Designation	N/A (launched on STS-105)
Launched	10 August 2001
Launch Site	Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed	17 December 2001 (aboard STS-108)
Landing Site	Shuttle Landing Facility, KSC, Florida
Launch Vehicle	STS-105
Duration	128 days 20hrs 44 min 56 sec
Call sign	Uragan (Hurricane)
Objective	ISS-3 expedition crew programme

Flight Crew

CULBERTSON Jr., Frank Lee, 52, civilian, US ISS-3 commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-38 (1990); STS-51 (1993)

DEZHUROV, Vladimir Nikolayevich, 39, Russian Air Force, ISS-3 Soyuz

commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz TM21 (1995)

TYURIN, Mikhail Vladislavovich, 41, civilian, Russian ISS-3 flight engineer

Flight Log

The third resident crew, under the command of American astronaut Frank Culbertson, arrived at the station aboard STS-105 on 12 August for a four-month stay. During their residency, having assumed official command of the station on 17 August, the crew received two Progress re-supply vehicles, the Russian EVA and docking compartment and the second Soyuz Taxi crew. Four EVAs were also completed, but they did not receive any visiting Shuttle missions until STS-108 arrived to take them home, bringing the ISS-4 crew up to replace them.

The science programme for the mission involved 15 US experiments, 22 Russian, 3 Japanese, 4 French, a Canadian and an ESA experiment, some of which would be performed during the visiting mission. The research fields included biology, the environment of the ISS, radiation, Earth observations, geophysics, protein crystal growth, tissue growth, medical, materials science, technology and education.

Progress M45 arrived on 23 August and remained docked until 22 November. It would be replaced by Progress M1-7, which initially failed to hard-dock with the station and required an unplanned EVA to remove an obstruction to allow the docking operation to be completed. The other unmanned docking with the station during this residency was with Progress M-SO1, which delivered the Russian Docking Compartment (called Pirs, or “Pier”). A few days after docking, the instrumentation and propulsion sections of the Progress were discarded, leaving the forward module section of the vehicle (Pirs) permanently attached to Zvezda’s nadir port (which had

The formal picture of the ISS-3 crew posing for the traditional pre-launch crew photo in Shuttle launch and entry suits proudly displaying the residency logo. L to r: Tyurin, Culbertson, Dezhurov

been prepared during the IVA of ISS-2 on 8 June). This new module would be used by crews performing EVAs from the Russian segment of the station.

The first EVA from Pirs was conducted by Dezhurov and Tyurin (8 Oct for 4 hours 58 minutes) and involved the installation of external equipment to bring the facility up to operational status. The cosmonauts also commenced construction of the Strela boom (GStM-1) designed for further movements across the station’s Russian segments, and installed some antennas. During the second EVA (15 Oct for 5 hours 51 minutes), the cosmonauts deployed several small experiment and materials sample cassettes on the outside of the station. These were long-duration exposure facilities that would be retrieved and replaced at regular intervals on future EVAs. The Soyuz TM32 was relocated to the rear Pirs docking port on 18 October in preparation for the arrival of the second visiting crew. The two Russian cosmonauts and French ESA astronaut Claudie Haignere (formerly Andre-Deshays) arrived on 23 October for a week of science activities. They would depart in the older Soyuz TM32 spacecraft leaving a new vehicle for the ISS-3 crew to use in the event of an emergency. The third EVA (12 Nov for 5 hours 5 minutes) involved Frank Culbertson, who accompanied Dezhurov outside to continue the installation of handrails and cables on the outside of Pirs and Zvezda. They also tested the extension of the Stella cargo crane, as well as inspecting and photographing a solar battery which had failed to deploy from Zvezda after entering orbit and had remained stuck. The final EVA (3 Dec for 2 hours 46 minutes) was completed by Dezhurov and Tyurin and was unplanned. They inspected the aft port of Zvezda where Progress M1-7 had failed to hard-dock and reported the presence of a foreign object, a sealing ring left behind by the previous Progress (M45) when it undocked. Ground command signalled the Progress M1-7 to extend its docking probe, allowing the cosmonauts to use a cutting tool to remove the tangled rubber ring and free up the system to allow the Progress to successfully hard-dock with the station. A few days later, STS-108 arrived, and the third expedition drew to a close.

Frank Culbertson had been a former US manager of the Shuttle-Mir programme and had used this experience to evaluate the working conditions on the new station for future US resident crew planning, experiment and logistics activities. One of the more difficult periods on board the station was in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US. Informed of the day’s events during a medical check-up, the station later flew over New York and the crew saw the huge plume of smoke and dust from the attack and subsequent collapse of the World Trade Center buildings. Regular updates were sent to the crew following the attacks.

Milestones

3rd ISS resident crew

2nd ISS EO crew to be launched by Shuttle 1st EVAs by ISS resident crew

Flight Crew

MCARTHUR Jr., William Surles, 54, US Army, ISS-12 commander and science officer, 4th mission

Previous missions: STS-58 (1993); STS-74 (1995); STS-92 (2000) TOKAREV, Valery Ivanovich, 52, Russian Air Force, ISS-12 Soyuz commander and flight engineer, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-96 (1999)

OLSEN, Gregory Hammond, 60, civilian, US space flight participant

Flight Log

Greg Olsen had prepared for his mission with over 900 hours training, but had been medically disqualified from flying TMA6. His medical condition cleared up, however, and he was cleared to fly by Russian medical specialists. He was assigned to the next mission. During his week on ISS, Olsen did perform some experiments for ESA, but failed equipment and the lack of an export licence for an infrared camera prevented him completing his full programme. He did participate in the three live video and ham radio sessions with schools during the mission and spent his time Earth watching, exercising and photographing, mainly from the Russian segment. He was restricted in his activities, however, especially aboard US elements.

When the ISS-11 crew returned home, along with Olsen, the new resident crew got down to work with their own programme of experiments, maintenance and house­keeping, including two EVAs. The first of these saw the first use of US EVA suits and the Quest Airlock since April 2003. Tokarev became the first Russian to use US EVA equipment and facilities at the station. The two men installed a new camera at the end of the P1 Truss and removed a failed Rotary Joint Motor Controller (electronics box) and the Floating Potential Probe, which had been installed during STS-97 in 2000. They tossed this overboard, where it would orbit until re-entry about 100 days later.

ISS-7 crew wearing Sokol suits at launch-processing facility, Baikonur. L to r Olsen, Tokarev, McArthur

They also removed a failed circuit breaker in the Mobile Transporter and replaced it with a new unit. The second EVA was rescheduled from December to February to allow more time for preparation. This EVA was from Pirs, using Russian Orlan M suits, and featured the deployment of an Orlan SuitSat, which was an old suit outfitted with a transmitter and radio, beaming faint recorded voices of children to amateur radio operators for a few days. It was expected to orbit for several weeks before eventually re-entering the atmosphere. Other tasks performed during this EVA included relocation of the Strela grapple fixture to the PMA-3 on Unity, retrieval of exterior sample cassettes and external photography. A third EVA was cancelled as unnecessary.

During their stay on the station, the two men continued repairs on Elektron, the station toilet, and in the US laboratory Destiny. The crew also continued regular exercise and science work, along with unloading a Progress re-supply vehicle, per­forming tests with the Canadarm2, and a communications test in preparation for receiving ATV re-supply flights. McArthur’s wife was the principle investigator for the educational payload operations and together they instigated a programme of science demonstrations for schools. Shuttle mission STS-114 had delivered much needed

supplies and alleviated the clutter of unwanted gear, but extensive science operations would have to await the arrival of the next main crew in April and the third resident crew member (Thomas Reiter) on STS-121 in July 2006.

The crew had to relocate their Soyuz twice during the mission. The first relocation from the Pirs Module to the nadir port on Zarya took place on 18 November and lasted about 19 minutes. This freed up the Pirs docking compartment for use as the airlock for the EVA that was scheduled for 7 December but moved to February. The second relocation, on 20 March, lasted 22 minutes. The crew moved TMA7 from Zarya to the recently vacated rear port of Zvezda (Progress M54), to allow TMA8 to dock with Zarya so that it would not require relocation during the six-month mission. The ISS-12 crew came home with Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes in TMA7 on 8 April.

Milestones

245th manned space flight

100th Russian manned space flight

93rd manned Soyuz mission

7th manned Soyuz TMA mission

40th Russian and 95th flight with EVA operations

9th ISS Soyuz mission (9S)

9th visiting mission (VC-9)

6th resident caretaker ISS crew (2 person)

3rd space flight participant

Tokarev celebrates 53rd birthday (29 Oct) in space

1st Russian to perform EVA from Quest using EMU (Tokarev)

All US manned space mission landings up to the Space Shuttle programme were “splashdowns” in either the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. The crew vehicles descended under parachutes after re-entry into the atmosphere, and a recovery crew would

Diagram of an Apollo re-entry configuration

attach a flotation device to the capsule once it had hit the ocean. This was not always the case with some Mercury and Gemini missions, which landed outside the planned recovery area. This method was easier than developing terrain landing capabilities, although Gemini and Apollo spacecraft development teams did investigate this option. Splashdowns still carried the risk of drowning the crew or the possibility of a parachute failure, and there was also the added expense of drafting a flotilla of military ships for each mission recovery.

Soviet or Russian missions have always been targeted for landing in home territory, normally Kazakhstan. Vostok pilots ejected from their capsules and landed by separate parachute as developing a soft landing system to protect the occupant was deemed too complicated and time-consuming in the race to beat the Americans to orbit. Voskhod crews landed in their craft under parachutes, aided by retro-rockets in the parachute support system. A more effective system was incorporated in the base of the Soyuz, with four solid propellant rocket engines fired 1.5 metres off the ground to effect what is known as a “dust-down” or a “soft-landing”. While this is usually reliable, it has occasionally proven otherwise. This method is also used by the Chinese Shenzhou, which is based on the Russian Soyuz design.

The Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at the Kennedy Space Center

The Space Shuttle orbiter lands on a runway and has used three sites – mainly the concrete Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the concrete or dry lake bed runways at Edwards AFB in California. One landing was made at the Northrop Strip (gypsum) at White Sands in New Mexico. There is also a network of contingency landing sites around the globe, all with long runways for use as emergency return options for the Shuttle.

The initial X-Prize flight occurred on 29 September 2004 when Mike Melvill piloted Spaceship One for 24 minutes and reached an altitude of 337,500 ft (102.87 km). The

second 24-minute flight, by Binnie, reached 367,442 ft (111.99 km) above the surface of the Earth and, in addition to securing the X-Prize, also broke the altitude record set by X-15 NASA test pilot Joseph Walker on 22 August 1963. An initial flight, and first attempt at the X-Prize, had taken place on 21 June 2004, when Mike Melvill flew a 24-minute flight to 328,491ft (100.12 km) to the fringes of space. However, a flight control malfunction during the flight meant that the second attempt, to win the X-Prize, would have to be delayed beyond the required two-week turnaround. The Spaceship One programme was completed with the attainment of the X-Prize and the team is now working with Virgin Galactic on Spaceship Two designs to extend the objectives and opportunities further than the original prize.

Spaceship One “astro-flights” Date Launch Powered flight Pilot Altitude (km) 2004 Jun 21 60th 1 5th Melvill 100.12 2004 Sep 29 65th 1 6th Melvill 102.87 2004 Oct 4 66th 1 7th Binnie 111.99

A view of the curvature of the Earth taken from one of the Spaceship One X-Prize flights. © 2004 Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, photographed by Scaled Composites. Spaceship One is a Paul G. Allen Project. Used with permission.

1962 gamma 1

20 February 1962

Pad 14, Cape Canaveral, Florida

20 February 1962

Northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Atlantic Ocean

Atlas 109D; spacecraft serial number SC-13

4hrs 55 min 23 sec

Friendship 7

Three-orbit mission

Flight Crew

GLENN, John Herschel Jr., 40, USMC, pilot

Flight Log

This was one of the most heroic space missions in history. For a start, the Atlas booster was not very reliable, and blew up on the first unmanned Mercury orbital flight attempt in March 1961. The next two unmanned orbital missions, which actually reached orbit, were only partially successful. Mercury Atlas 6 was originally another unmanned test before the decision was made to man it with Glenn.

The mission was originally scheduled for December 1961, before being re­scheduled first for 13 January 1962, then 16 January. On 27 January, Glenn lay in the capsule for almost six hours before the launch attempt was scrubbed. The launch was rescheduled for 1 February, then 15 February, and finally 20 February when, after a further 3 hours 44 min in the capsule and six launch holds, Glenn was at last committed to launch. The Atlas thundered away on the pad, reached full thrust and, at 09: 27 hours local time, finally became airborne. Glenn, his heart beating at a reason­able 110 beats per minute, announced the start of the mission in the now customary style, confirming that the spacecraft clock had started. Observers watched nervously as the Atlas 109D reached the point at which MA3 had exploded in March 1961.

The vehicle went through Max Q – the point of maximum dynamic pressure on the vehicle – at T + 100 seconds and the two outboard engines cut off at T + 2 minutes 14 seconds. Glenn was subjected to 7.7 G acceleration during the five minute ascent, which ended at orbital velocity of 28,233 kph (17,544mph). Orbital inclination was 32.5° and maximum altitude was 265 km (165 miles). The capsule, Friendship 7, turned around and Glenn saw his Atlas tumbling about 30 m (98 ft) away. The view took his breath away as he looked back at the Cape, travelling backwards towards Africa on the first of his three planned orbits. Because his orbital status gave him “go for at least seven orbits”, according to flight controllers, this has sometimes been misinterpreted to mean that this was the plan.

The launch of Mercury Atlas 6 and the mission of Friendship 7

Glenn experienced problems with the automatic orientation system and con­tinually had to manually correct a yaw motion. He also saw strange “fireflies” on the outside of the spacecraft, the source of which could not be explained at the time. The mission was proceeding tolerably well, until mission controllers received a signal with the disastrous news that the heat shield on Friendship 7 might be loose. If this was so, then Glenn would be killed during re-entry.

After the three retros had fired as Glenn was completing his third orbit, mid-way between Hawaii and Los Angeles (giving him the impression that he was heading back to the former rather than towards the latter), he was recommended to keep the retro – pack attached through the re-entry, although he was not told why. His heart rate peaked at 132. The change to the flight plan resulted in a more spectacular re-entry than envisaged, as first the straps holding the retro-pack and then the retro-pack itself were burnt away during the 1,650°C peak re-entry temperatures, at a speed of about 24,000kph (14,912mph) and an altitude of 40km (25 miles).

After a nerve-tingling wait during which communications were cut off by incan­descent gases surrounding the craft, Glenn’s hale and hearty voice was at last heard. The heat shield had not been loose after all. The main chute came out at 3,291 km (10,800 ft) altitude and Friendship 7 descended into the Atlantic Ocean, 9.6 km (6 miles) from the recovery ship, the USS Noa, northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, but 64 km (40 miles) away from the prime ship, USS Randolph. The capsule with the astronaut inside was picked up, and Glenn injured his hand slightly when he blew the hatch. The flight time of 4 hours 55 minutes 23 seconds made this the shortest US manned orbital flight.

Milestones

5th manned space flight 3rd US manned space flight 3rd Mercury manned flight 1st US orbital manned space flight

1975-065A (Soyuz 19) – 1975-066A (Apollo 18)

15 July 1975

Pad 1, Site 5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan (Soyuz 19); Pad 39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida (Apollo 18) 21 July 1975 (Soyuz 19); 24 July 1975 (Apollo 18)

86 km northeast of Arkalyk (Soyuz 19); Pacific Ocean,

432 km west of Hawaii (Apollo 18)

R7 (11A511U); spacecraft serial number 7K-TM #75 (Soyuz 19); Saturn 1B SA-210; spacecraft serial number CSM-111; Docking Module-2 (Apollo 18)

5 days 22hrs 30 min 51 sec (Soyuz 19);

9 days 1hr 28 min 24 sec (Apollo 18)

Soyuz/Apollo

First international manned space flight; docking of an American Apollo with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit, with crew exchanges, returning to Earth in own vehicles

Flight Crew

LEONOV, Aleksey Arkhipovich, 41, Soviet Air Force, commander Soyuz 19, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Voskhod 2 (1965)

KUBASOV, Valery Nikolayevich, 40, civilian, flight engineer Soyuz 19,

2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz 6 (1969)

STAFFORD, Thomas Patten Jr., 44, USAF, commander Apollo 18,

4th mission

Previous missions: Gemini 6 (1965); Gemini 9 (1966); Apollo 10 (1969) BRAND, Vance DeVoe, 44, civilian, command module pilot Apollo 18 SLAYTON, Donald Kent “Deke”, 51, USAF, docking module pilot Apollo 18

Flight Log

After three years of extraordinary cooperation between the superpowers, involving reciprocal visits by teams of scientists and spacemen, development of a compatible docking system and flight planning, Apollo and Soyuz were made ready for the big link up, amid publicity comparable with one of the first Moon landings. First to go were Aleksey Leonov and Valery Kubasov aboard Soyuz 19 at 17: 20 hrs local time at Baikonur, watched live on television while the reserve, fully fuelled Soyuz sat on a

It may not have been a lunar mission, but this launch of Apollo 18 was significant in its own right

sister pad about 30 km (19 miles) away. Soyuz entered an orbit with an inclination of 51.8° and a maximum altitude of 220 km (137 miles).

Sixteen thousand km (9,942 miles) away, on Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, America’s last manned space flight for almost six years was about to begin, seven and a half hours after the ascent of Soyuz 19. Apollo’s crew, the veteran Stafford, the mature Brand and the positively aged former unflown Mercury astro­naut Slayton, reached orbit and extracted a docking module from the S-IVB stage of the Saturn 1B. The race in space began with Soyuz relatively passive and Apollo doing most of the manoeuvring. At T + 51 hours 49 minutes ASTP mission time, Apollo

Kubasov and Leonov in the Soyuz 19 Orbital Module

and Soyuz docked together and a little later, with the connecting hatches open, Stafford and Leonov shook hands over Holland.

With the crews speaking their respective languages, visiting each other’s space­craft and exchanging TV conversations with President Gerald Ford and Premier Leonid Brezhnev, the mission took on the mantle of a space summit. At one point Brand, sitting in the Soyuz, spoke to Soviet TV viewers in Russian. The two spacecraft later separated for some joint experiments, one of which was to simulate a solar eclipse, and the rendezvous ended at T + 102 hours 16 minutes. During the series of crew transfers between the two spacecraft, Leonov spent 5 hours 43 minutes aboard Apollo, while Kubasov had been in the American spacecraft for 4 hour 47 minutes. Stafford had visited Soyuz for a total of 7 hours 10 minutes, Brand for 6 hours 30 minutes and Slayton for 1 hour 35 minutes.

Soyuz 19 landed at T + 5 days 22 hours 30 minutes 51 seconds, 86 km (53 miles) northeast of Arkalyk, watched live on TV. Apollo flew on, reaching a maximum altitude of 228 km (142 miles), almost as if savouring America’s last days in space for as long as possible. The re-entry was textbook perfect, but as Apollo 18 descended towards USS New Orleans in the Pacific Ocean, 432 km (268 miles) west of Hawaii, Brand forgot to operate two switches to deploy the parachutes and shut down the RCS thrusters. When the drogue chute failed to deploy, Brand commanded it to do so manually, but the oscillations caused the still-armed thrusters to fire. Stafford shut them down but not before nitrogen tetroxide gas had boiled off and entered the cabin via a pressure fed valve. The astronauts began to cough and choke and Brand fell unconscious. He came round with the aid of oxygen from masks that were donned before splashdown at T + 9 days 1 hour 28 minutes 24 seconds. It was an unfortunate end to an historic and, it appears now, unique space flight.

Following the mission, there were enthusiastic plans for docking an American Shuttle with an improved (Salyut 6-class) space station in 1981, but relations between the two countries deteriorated with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and this contributed to the shelving of plans about future joint flights for almost 20 years.

Milestones

57th and 58th manned space flights

27th Soviet manned space flight

19th Soyuz manned space flight

31st US manned space flight

15th (and final) Apollo CSM manned space flight

1st joint US-Soviet manned space flight

1st time five people travel in “one” spacecraft

1st Soviet manned launch shown live on TV across the world

1st space traveller aged over 50

Flight Crew

VOLYNOV, Boris Valentinovich, 41, Soviet Air Force, commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz 5 (1969)

ZHOLOBOV, Vitaly Mikhailovich, 39, Soviet Air Force, flight engineer

Flight Log

Another military Almaz space station, designated Salyut 5 (Almaz-3), was launched on 22 June 1976 (1976-057A), together with its conical, recoverable capsule, to continue operations which began with Salyut 3 in 1974. It also operated on frequencies used by reconnaissance satellites and previous military Salyuts. The Soyuz 21 ferry vehicle ascended from sunny Baikonur at 17: 09 hrs local time, and one day later a smooth docking was completed. Maximum altitude achieved by Soyuz 21 was 274 km (170 miles) during the mission at 51.6°.

Salyut 5 was crammed with over 20 pieces of scientific equipment for science – technological experiments, biological investigations, astronomical and Earth observa­tions, medical checks and technical evaluations. Apart from classified military work, the crew of veteran Boris Volynov and the first moustached cosmonaut, Vitaly Zholobov, were clearly going to have their hands full on the projected 60-day plus mission. The behaviour and breeding of fish was studied using an aquarium – another space first – and the cosmonauts monitored aerosol and industrial pollution.

They also grew crystals in microgravity and studied the behaviour of liquids as a prelude to in-orbit refuelling by tanker craft. Equipment was even used to harden and solder metals. It is interesting to note that the equipment used for Earth resources was unnamed, unlike all the other scientific experiments, clearly pointing to the recon­naissance nature of the mission, with its quick response being aided by the teleprinter on board. Soviet reports honed in on the science equipment on board but did little to describe the cosmonauts’ other activities, which included monitoring the extensive air and sea operations around Siberia during Operation Sevier.

Inspecting the business end of their launch vehicle at Baikonur are Soyuz 21 cosmonauts Volynov (left) and Zholobov

Seemingly out of the blue to western observers, the end of the mission was announced just 12 hours before the crew was back on Earth. Volynov and Zholobov had evacuated the space station when an odour in Salyut’s atmosphere became so acrid as to be unbearable. First time space flyer Zholobov’s health had been deterior­ating for some time – even prescribed medication seemed not to work – and this initiated reports of him suffering sensory deprivation due to prolonged isolation. But Volynov was also suffering (to a lesser extent) from what was assumed to be nitric acid fumes leaking from the propellant system of the Salyut. The cosmonauts landed at night 198 km (123 miles) southeast of Kokchetav at T + 49 days 6 hours 23 minutes 32 seconds. The next crew got ready with new equipment – gas masks.

Milestones

59th manned space flight 28th Soviet manned space flight 20th Soyuz manned space flight

Flight Crew

BYKOVSKY, Valery Fyodorovich, 42, Soviet Air Force, commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Vostok 5 (1963)

AKSENOV, Vladimir Viktorovich, 41, civilian, flight engineer

Flight Log

In July 1975, Soyuz spacecraft serial number 74 had been prepared as a second back­up vehicle for the ASTP programme. The first Soyuz back-up vehicle, serial number 76, had been fuelled and sitting on Pad 31 in case the primary Soyuz 19 mission failed. As it had to be launched within 75 days of being fuelled, it was dismantled and sent back to NPO Energiya for short-term storage. The DM was recycled to be used on Soyuz 31 but the OM and SM were used in a display with a mock-up DM at the Energiya museum. Spacecraft 74, being unfuelled, had a longer shelf life and was available for its own mission. This independent Soyuz spacecraft, rather than a ferry, was then rather ingeniously and cost-effectively converted into a specialised Earth observatory, manned by cosmonauts Valery Bykovsky and Vladimir Aksenov. It was launched into a unique 64.5° inclination orbit at 14: 48 hrs local time at Baikonur. The docking system on the front of the Orbital Module had been replaced with the East German Karl Zeiss MKF-6 multi-spectral camera. This was loaded with film and operated from within the Orbital Module in much the same way as the Orion astro­nomical equipment on board the Soyuz 13 spacecraft.

From its 296 km (184 miles) maximum altitude orbit, Soyuz 22 made special observations of the Soviet Union and East Germany and may not have been able to resist some military reconnaissance of the coast of Norway where a NATO exercise was being conducted. The MKF camera was able to take six photographs simul­taneously in the visible and infrared bands, providing a stereo imaging capability which would be useful to agricultural experts, cartographers, geologists and hydrol-

Aksenov recording data during the Soyuz 22 mission

ogists. The camera took pictures in 164 km (102 miles) swathes with a resolution of 28 m (92 ft). The Soviets claim that the resulting pictures helped find the best route for the construction of a new railway, identified optimum timber and production sites, and mapped tidal zones to assist in the siting of tidal power stations. Images also assessed mineral prospects in the continental shelf, harvest projections, land reclamation possibilities and atmospheric pollution monitoring. In all, the MKF took 2,400 images covering 30 special targets.

Bykovsky and Aksenov came home 148 km (92 miles) northwest of Tselinograd at T + 7 days 21 hours 52 minutes 17 seconds. Soyuz 22 was the final solo flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. All the future flights were associated with space stations, and though it seems other solo flights were expected, no such long-term programme was planned.

Milestones

60th manned space flight 29th Soviet manned space flight 21st Soyuz manned space flight Final solo “scientific” Soyuz mission

Flight Crew

ZUDOV, Vyacheslav Dmitriyevich, 34, Soviet Air Force, commander ROZHDESTVENSKY, Valery Ilyich, 37, Soviet Air Force, flight engineer

Flight Log

Like Apollo 13 six years before, Soyuz 23 seemed to have its gremlins. Firstly, the cosmonaut transfer bus broke down on the way to the launch pad. During the ascent, high winds caused the R7 to deviate from its intended flight path to such a degree that it almost triggered a launch abort. This resulted in a lower orbit than planned. Then the Igla system failed and a challenging recovery awaited the rookie crew.

Armed with gas masks to prevent possible asphyxiation by Salyut 5’s acrid atmosphere, rookie cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky took off in the Soyuz 23 ferry at 22: 40 hrs local time from Baikonur for a routine flight to the space station. The flight was to become an arduous and much shorter one than the planned 14-day mission. The bite noir of the Salyut programme reared its ugly head again, as Soyuz 23 approached and failed to dock because of a failure with the automatic system. The rendezvous radar electronics had failed. The ferry, without solar panels and running on just batteries, had a limited lifetime in its 275 km (171 miles), 51.6° orbit. The happy-go-lucky crew, as they had been described before the launch, shut down as many systems as possible and floated around cold and disappointed until the next convenient re-entry pass for a landing in the main recovery area. The Soviets had failed to dock with their space stations seven times in eleven attempts.

Following a curt Soviet announcement that the visit to Salyut 5 had been cancelled, Soyuz 23 fired the retro-rockets and came home. Though de-orbit burn and re-entry occurred as programmed, the high winds in the recovery area resulted in a 121 km overshoot from the planned landing near Arkalyk and they descended in a thick fog, with temperatures at — 22° C. The 32 km (20 miles) wide Lake Tengiz was situated in the recovery area, 194 km (121 miles) southwest of Tselinograd, and the

The only Russian crew to splash down at the end of their mission. Zudov (left) and Rozhdestvensky

unlucky duo, expecting a hard ground impact, headed straight for it, making the first splashdown of sorts in the Soviet space programme, at T + 2 days 0 hours 6 minutes 35 seconds. As the lake was covered with ice, which was broken by the Soyuz descent capsule, the recovery, in temperatures of —20°C in the fog and in darkness, was very difficult and not without “a certain amount of heroism,” said the Soviets later. The true extent of the danger and difficult recovery did not emerge for some years. The capsule rapidly cooled in the freezing waters and the cosmonauts took off their thin Sokol pressure suits, instead donning their warmer flight suits before breaking into some of their emergency rations. To conserve energy they stopped moving and talking, but this hampered efforts to find them, as the signal beacon was obscured by the fog and corrosion activated the reserve parachute which rapidly filled with water. Fortunately, as the lake was shallow, it did not drag the capsule beneath the water line, allowing the equalisation valve to supply additional oxygen to the dwind­ling supplies on board. The capsule was found by chance and in extreme conditions, with a lack of adequate equipment meaning that the recovery had to wait until the next morning. It was snowing and several attempts to reach the capsule were thwarted. The crew were in contact with their rescuers, but by the next day the antenna had frozen, and rescue teams thought that they would find a dead crew. The weather improved slightly, however and divers communicated with the crew, but were unable to attach a lifting cable. The only way to rescue the crew was by towing the capsule to finally retrieve a cold and exhausted crew. The rookies of Soyuz 23 never flew again.

Milestones

61st manned space flight 30th Soviet manned space flight 22nd Soyuz manned space flight 1st Soyuz manned splash down Final manned use of R7 11A511

Flight Crew

GORBATKO, Viktor Vasilyevich, 42, Soviet Air Force, commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz 7 (1969)

GLAZKOV, Yuri Nikolayevich, 37, Soviet Air Force, flight engineer

Flight Log

Baikonur was treated to yet another fireworks display at 23: 12hrs local time when another Soyuz departed at night. Soyuz 24 made four orbital manoeuvres and a day later got to within 1,500 m (4,921 ft) of Salyut 5 at a speed of 2m/sec (6.5ft/sec). When Igla again failed, Commander Viktor Gorbatko took control at 80 m (262 ft) distance, and with Salyut illuminated by Soyuz 24’s searchlight, he made a smooth docking. After a sleep period inside the Soyuz and wearing breathing apparatus, they entered the space station, and to their surprise found conditions comfortable. There was no longer an acrid odour. A full operational mission lasting 17 days, in a 51.6° orbit and at a maximum altitude of 281 km (175 miles), was on the agenda.

The cosmonauts conducted many classified military experiments and had much success with the science equipment. Soldering tests were successful but the casting of metals was not. The cosmonauts conducted crystal growth experiments, observed fungi and fish roe development in microgravity, photographed the sun, carried out Earth resources photography and made a study of glacial precipitation based on observations made by the Soyuz 21 crew. Continuing investigations into the effects of weightlessness on the human body, the crew conducted several biological and medical tests, including regular electrocardiogram sessions and studies into space sickness. A unique event occurred on 21 February when much of the spacecraft’s atmosphere was purged, using air in onboard containers.

The highly successful mission ended quietly at T + 17 days 17 hours 25 minutes 58 seconds, outside the planned recovery zone, in snow, high winds, low cloud and sub-zero temperatures, 36 km (22 miles) northeast of Arkalyk. After leaving the

The final military Soyuz crew. Glazkov and Gorbatko

capsule to await the rescue team, the cosmonauts found it too cold outside and re­entered the capsule. The rescue teams arrived an hour after landing. It was from the experiences on several Soyuz off nominal landings (notably the Soyuz abort, Soyuz 23 and Soyuz 24) that improvements to survival gear were authorised for future missions. This was the final military Soyuz flight and the last flight of a manned Almaz station. Though a further station launch was planned for the early 1980s, it was cancelled. Salyut 5 finally re-entered the atmosphere in August 1977.

Milestones

62nd manned space flight

31st Soviet manned space flight

23rd Soyuz manned space flight

Final Soyuz “Almaz” military station mission

Flight Crew

KOVALENOK, Vladimir Vasilyevich, 35, Soviet Air Force, commander RYUMIN, Valery Viktorovich, 38, civilian, flight engineer

Flight Log

The Soviet Union started its 20th anniversary celebrations of Sputnik 1 with the launch of the Salyut 6 (DOS 5-1) space station on 29 September. Salyut 6 (1977-097A) was very similar to Salyut 4 but significantly upgraded, equipped with more experi­ments, two docking ports instead of one allowing for re-supply missions, and an operational EVA system. Rhetoric was emotional as the Soyuz 25 crew, rookies Vladimir Kovalenok and Valery Ryumin, prepared to start a new era in space operations, the third decade of Soviet space flight. Their launch at 07: 40 hrs local time was unimpressive since the rocket almost immediately disappeared into low cloud.

Kovalenok and Ryumin, heading for a stay of90 days or more in space, made the routine rendezvous with Salyut 6 and things looked good. Soyuz 25, which reached a maximum altitude of 349 km (217 miles) during the mission, at 51.6°, made contact but it was only a soft dock. Radio silence fell over the mission. The cosmonauts made three more desperate attempts to get a hard dock but ran out of time before the critical limit in the ferry vehicle’s power capability was reached. The Soviets announced that the much heralded mission had ended prematurely and ignominiously. There are conflicting reports on the docking operations; some indicate the orientation of the station was incorrect, while other suggest that the docking mechanism failed. What­ever the reason, once again a crew could not enter a station.

The disappointed crew – the last all-rookie crew in Soviet history – came home, 184 km (114 miles) from Tselinograd at T + 2 days 0 hours 44 minutes 45 seconds, after the eighth docking failure in thirteen Soviet attempts. There were concerns that the docking port had been damaged, perhaps by imperfections in crew control, since Kovalenok and Ryumin did not get the usual full honours on their return, although

Studying hard for a mission they could not complete, Ryumin (left) and Kovalenok were the intended first crew to Salyut 6

they did return to space. If the port had been damaged it did not matter, because for the first time there was an alternative port on a Salyut.

Milestones

63rd manned space flight 32nd Soviet manned space flight 24th Soyuz manned space flight

Flight Crew

ROMANENKO, Yuri Viktorovich, 33, Soviet Air Force, commander GRECHKO Georgy Mikhailovich, 45, civilian, flight engineer, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz 17 (1975)

Flight Log

Soyuz 26 was originally planned as the second long-duration mission to Salyut 6 with rookies Yuri Romanenko and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov, who had been paired since 1973. After the Soyuz 25 abort, the Soviets decided not to fly all-rookie crews again and Romanenko and Ivanchenkov were split. Romanenko was to command what was now to be the first long-duration mission, with Georgy Grechko as the new flight engineer. Grechko had been drafted in from the intended third crew as he was a Salyut designer and would be able to evaluate any fix to the forward docking port that may have been damaged by Soyuz 25.

Soyuz 26 got underway at 06: 19hrs local time at Baikonur, and just over two days later Romanenko made a manual docking at the rear port of Salyut. Had the forward port been damaged by the Soyuz 25 attempt, the second port on Salyut 6 had saved the day. Romanenko and Grechko floated into the new space station to sample the delights of several improvements since Salyut 4, in their 356 km (221 miles), 51.6° orbit.

The station was equipped with a temperature regulation and water regeneration system, external TV cameras, EVA handrails, airlock, sun sensor, waste ejection airlock, dust filter, running track, shower, ion sensor and the MKF multi-spectral camera, whose housing took most of the room in the aft pressurised section. The rear docking port replaced the Salyut main propulsion system engine chamber which was divided into two either side of the port. Salyut 6 was equipped internally with several scientific experiments, including a smelting furnace for crystal growth and metal­lurgical processing brought up later by cargo vehicles. Much emphasis was placed on medical experiments since this mission was to exceed all previous ones in duration.

Romanenko and Grechko near the main control panels of Salyut 6 during their record-breaking mission

On 19 December, the cosmonauts’ routine work was interrupted by the first EVA in nine years, when Grechko, wearing a new semi-rigid spacesuit called Orlan with a portable life support system in a back pack (which also acted as the suit’s “back door’’ entry), emerged to inspect possible damage to the forward docking port. Grechko did not find any damage during the 20 minute EVA. He had practiced his EVA inside a huge water simulator, called the Hydrolab, at Star City. During the 88 minutes of depressurisation, the space-suited Romanenko, keen to look outside as far as possible, floated free. For several years after the flight, Grechko maintained a “story” that his instinctive grab saved Romanenko from becoming the first person to make an independent EVA and meet a lingering death in space. The commander, however, insisted that he was always attached by a small safety line and more recently Grechko has admitted that it was his “big joke’’ and that Romanenko was never in danger of floating away from the station.

Relations between the two were not always good. They had been thrown together with six weeks’ notice for the mission and the rookie commander had a much older and more experienced person as his second in command and flight engineer. Romanenko spent a good part of the mission with a raging toothache which he insisted be kept secret in case the mission be shortened. Wrapped with a scarf around his painful jaw, the miserable Romanenko swallowed aspirin after aspirin in the hope of a cure.

After seeing in the New Year, the crew became the first to receive visitors when Soyuz 27 arrived on 11 January. Before the Soyuz 25 abort, the first visiting crew would have comprised two rookie cosmonauts, Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Pyotr Kolodin on a test of the dual docking port capability. The docking failure saw Oleg Makarov replace Kolodin. Their stay of eight days ended with their return in Soyuz 26, leaving a fresh craft for the resident crew. Another major milestone in the Soviet space programme occurred on 20 January 1978, when the unmanned Progress 1 tanker was launched. It made an automatic docking at the rear of Salyut 6, carrying compressed air, food, water, films, letters, parcels and scientific equipment. It also carried propellants and conducted the first in-flight refuelling in space, replenishing Salyut 6’s tanks. Progress, based on the Soyuz ferry but with no Descent Module, also acted as a waste disposal unit. Crammed with rubbish by the cosmonauts, it undocked from Salyut 6 on 6 February and made a commanded re-entry, but not before conducting a rendezvous test from a distance of 16 km (10 miles).

Romanenko and Grechko got to work on some of the equipment that had been delivered by Progress 1. This included a solar electric furnace capable of temperatures of 1,000° C which was used to study the diffusion processes in molten metals and the interaction of solid and liquid metals in weightlessness. Another piece of equipment, called Medusa, was used to assess the effects of radiation on amino acids and other biological building blocks. Other equipment such as air purification filters and lithium hydroxide canisters were also fitted into the Salyut’s environmental control system. The next highlight was the arrival in March of the Soyuz 28 crew, with the Czecho­slovakian visitor, Vladimir Remek and his commander Aleksey Gubarev, who arrived as the crew was breaking the 84-day duration record held by the Skylab 4 crew since 1974.

After the brief Soyuz 28 visit, the Soyuz 26 mission ended at T + 96 days 10 hours 0 minutes 7 seconds, aboard the Soyuz 27 descent capsule, 264 km (164 miles) west of Tselinograd. Grechko learned that his father had died during the flight, a fact that Romanenko had known but was asked to keep from his flight engineer. Re-adaptation to 1-G took a long time but the cosmonauts were nonetheless fit and well. The first visit to Salyut 6 had been an unqualified success and a major milestone in the Soviet programme. That Romanenko had been part of it was later deemed prophetic.

Milestones

64th manned space flight

33rd Soviet manned space flight

25th Soyuz manned space flight

New duration record – 96 days 10 hours

1st crew to receive visiting crew

1st in-flight refuelling in space

3rd Soviet and 18th flight with EVA operations

1978-003A 10 January 1978

Pad 1, Site 5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan 16 January 1978 (aboard Soyuz 26)

307 km west of Tselinograd

R7 (11A511U); spacecraft serial number (7K-T) #44 5 days 22hrs 58 min 58 sec Pamir (Pamirs)

First exchange of resident crew Soyuz craft for fresher vehicle; structural tests of two docking ports on same space station

Flight Crew

DZHANIBEKOV, Vladimir Aleksandrovich, 35, Soviet Air Force, commander MAKAROV, Oleg Grigoryevich, 45, civilian, flight engineer, 3rd mission Previous missions: Soyuz 12 (1973); Soyuz 18-1 (1975)

Flight Log

This all-Soviet visiting mission was designed to evaluate the structural strength of the new second docking port with another Soyuz already docked to the station. In light of the Soyuz 25 failure, it also provided a good opportunity to confirm what the Soyuz 26 cosmonauts had discovered during their EVA; that the front port of Salyut was able to receive visiting craft. With the two cosmonauts aboard their Soyuz 27 ferry, the Salyut 6 space station flew over Baikonur and was 17 minutes further away when the SL-4 booster came to life at 17: 26hrs local time.

Before manually docking, Dzhanibekov flew around Salyut 6 to inspect its suspect port carefully before berthing. Apart from the obvious firsts, four people were on board a space station at one time and the space station was now 37 m (121 ft) long and weighed 32 tonnes. The first space visitors, reaching 352 km (219 miles) in the 51.6° orbit, had brought with them the Soviet-French Cyton biology experiment, and also conducted what was called the Resonance Experiment, which involved “jump­ing” on the floor, restrained by bungee cords, to measure the stresses exerted on the space station and the two docked vehicles. Dzhanibekov, an expert in electrical engineering, also gave the Salyut station the once-over.

After their short stay, the visitors packed Soyuz 26 with equipment, samples and other packages, exchanged their custom couches, and headed home. They landed at T + 5 days 22 hours 58 minutes 58 seconds, 307 km (191 miles) west of Tselinograd.

Milestones

65th manned space flight

34th Soviet manned space flight

26th Soyuz manned space flight

1st manned re-supply mission

1st manned dual docking

1st full crew to land in a different spacecraft

1978-023A 2 March 1978

Pad 1, Site 5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

10 March 1978

307 km west of Tselinograd

R7 (11A511U); spacecraft serial number (7K-T) #45 7 days 22hrs 16 min Zenit (Zenith)

First international crew – Czech visiting mission to Salyut 6

Flight Crew

GUBAREV, Aleksey Aleksandrovich, 45, Soviet Air Force, commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz 17 (1975)

REMEK, Vladimir, 29, Czech Army Air Force, cosmonaut researcher

Flight Log

The Soviet Union decided to fly guest cosmonauts from the Eastern Block “Inter – kosmos space science programme” on space station visits in 1976, at the same time that the USA announced that it was to fly West Europeans on the Space Shuttle. Three countries, Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia, were chosen to supply the first candidates for these missions, and Czechoslovakia’s Vladimir Remek came out of the political hat first. He was teamed with Aleksey Gubarev for the mission, which began with a night launch at 20: 28 hrs local time. The docking the following day was shown live on television via a camera on Soyuz 28. Once linked together, the two visiting cosmonauts came through the Salyut 6 entry hatch to a welcome so long-lasting and exuberant that ground controllers told the foursome to sober up, although nothing more powerful than cherry juice was drunk.

Remek got down to work with some national science experiments, most of which were conducted using onboard Soviet equipment. He used the Splav furnace to conduct the Morava experiment to study the growth of super pure crystals in microgravity and the possibility of obtaining semi-conductor optical materials. The Extinctica experiment observed the change in the brightness of stars when viewed through the atmosphere. The Chorella experiment studied the growth of algae cultures in a nutrient medium, and an oxymeter was used to study the concentrations of oxygen in human tissue in weightlessness.

The flight took place with enough national rhetoric to cover 50 missions, but the irony was that ten years later the Soviets admitted that they were worthless propa­ganda missions. Remek’s was the first of many international missions which after a

Remek (at rear) working in Salyut 6 with his commander Gubarev (left). Salyut commander Romanenko is on the right

while became rather monotonous other than to the country involved at the time or to ardent space watchers. What they did achieve was access to a lot of unique experi­ments prepared by specialists outside of the Soviet Union, expanding the research programme of the station. For nine Soviet cosmonauts however, it cost them perhaps their only chance of a seat into space after years of waiting and training, to foreign “part-time” cosmonauts with only months of preparation. Soyuz 28, which reached 353 km (219 miles) during the 51.6° mission, undocked and landed at T + 7 days 22 hours 16 minutes, 307 km (191 miles) west of Tselinograd, where a fleet of jets and helicopters were waiting.

Milestones

66th manned space flight

35th Soviet manned space flight

27th Soyuz manned space flight

1st manned space flight by non-Soviet, non American

1st Interkosmos mission

1st manned space flight by a Czechoslovakian

1978-061A 15 June 1978

Pad 1, Site 5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan 2 November 1978 (aboard Soyuz 31)

307 km west of Tselinograd

R7 (11A511U), spacecraft serial number (7K-T) #46 139 days 14hrs 47 min 32 sec Foton (Photon)

Second Salyut 6 resident crew programme

Flight Crew

KOVALENOK, Vladimir Vasilyevich, 36, Soviet Air Force, commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz 25 (1977)

IVANCHENKOV, Aleksandr Sergeyevich, 37, flight engineer

Flight Log

Yet another night launch, at 01: 17 hrs Baikonur time on 16 June, dispatched Vladimir Kovalenok and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov towards a rendezvous and docking with the vacant Salyut 6 space station after a one day solo flight in Soyuz 29. The two entered the Salyut to find a welcoming letter from Romanenko and Grechko and soon got to work with some repair jobs. With a balky ventilator repaired and the airlock given the once-over, Kovalenok and Ivanchenkov embarked on a three day production cycle using the Splav furnace. Before the flight, the cosmonauts had been given special instruction in Earth resources observation and potential strategic reconnaissance, flying a TU-134 at a height of 9,200 m (30,180 ft).

During their Salyut mission, some 36 times higher up at 366 km (227 miles) in the 51.6° orbit, the cosmonauts eventually took over 18,000 photographs using the onboard MKF-6m multi-spectral camera and a new topographical camera called the KT-140. To assess their ability to identify objects on the ground, an area near Rostow was specially laid out with grains, grasses and other types of vegetation. Following the standard Soviet procedures, Kovalenok and Ivanchenkov concentrated on one experiment at a time using a scheduled programme, before moving on to another. These tasks also included work on a new furnace called Kristall which was used to assess glass fusing techniques for the semi-conductor industry. This was delivered with Progress 2 later in the mission.

The cosmonauts had a busy time in space, receiving manned spacecraft and unloading several unmanned tankers. The first visitor was Soyuz 30 on 29 June, with a Polish guest cosmonaut. This visit was followed by Progress 2, on 9 July, which

Kovalyonok (with Ivanchenkov reflected in visor) stands on the Salyut during the first operational Salyut EVA.

remained docked for 25 days and automatically transferred 600 kg (1,323 lb) of fuel and oxidiser. On 29 July, 45 days after their launch, the two exited Salyut for an EVA which lasted 2 hours 5 minutes. Ivanchenkov, the lead EVA cosmonaut, retrieved several materials samples from the side of Salyut, including rubbers, polymers and biopolymers, which would be studied on the ground by scientists to assess the effects of exposure to space conditions. After completion of the assigned EVA tasks, Kovalenok requested an extension to the televised spacewalk, just to give the two cosmonauts a chance to sightsee and relax after being cooped up for so long.

By 8 August, the manned occupation of Salyut 6 had totalled 171 days, exceeding the total manned occupation of America’s Skylab. On 10 August, Progress 3 arrived bearing food, water, oxygen, new processing equipment and Kovalenok’s guitar. Progress 3 remained attached for 12 days. The rear docking port was again left vacant, this time to receive Soyuz 31 on 28 August, with an East German guest. The guest crew left in Soyuz 29, leaving the newer Soyuz attached to the rear of the station, On 21 September, the Soyuz 29 crew became the first space travellers to remain in space for 100 days, and seven days later, Ivanchenkov was celebrating his birthday in orbit.

In a new space first, Kovalenok and Ivanchenkov entered Soyuz 31, undocked from the rear and re-docked at the front in preparation to receive a further Progress delivery. Actually, Salyut 6 did the flying, reorienting itself so that Soyuz faced the front port, rather than the rear port from which it had undocked. As a precaution, in case the re-docking failed, the Soviets planned this unique operation during a standard landing window. Progress 4 duly followed on 4 October, carrying a cargo which included fur boots – either in preparation for the cosmonauts’ winter landing or because Salyut was becoming a cold home. On 9 October, the Soviets announced that the mission would end after operations with Progress 4 had been completed. The tanker’s final operational task was to fire its engine, to raise the Salyut 6 orbit in preparation for a vacant period before the arrival of a new long duration crew. Progress undocked for its standard destructive re-entry on 24 October.

Soyuz 31, with the Soyuz 29 cosmonauts aboard, landed on 2 November, 180 km (112 miles) southeast of Dzhezkazgan after a mission lasting 139 days 14 hours 47 minutes 32 seconds. The cosmonauts’ re-adaptation to 1-G after this record period of weightlessness was considered very good, and this was the result of extensive and intensive exercise while in orbit.

Milestones

67th manned space flight

36th Soviet manned space flight

28th Soyuz manned space flight

1st manned space flight to exceed 100 days

New duration record – 139 days 14 hrs

1st manned spacecraft transfer between docking ports

4th Soviet and 19th flight with EVA operations

Ivanchenkov celebrates 38th birthday in space (28 September)

Flight Crew

KLIMUK, Pyotr Ilyich, 35, Soviet Air Force, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: Soyuz 13 (1973); Soyuz 18 (1975)

HERMASZEWSKI, Miroslaw, 36, Polish Air Force, cosmonaut researcher

Flight Log

At 20: 27hrs local time at Baikonur, Soyuz 30 thundered into the skies, heading for Salyut 6 and its resident cosmonauts Kovalenok and Ivanchenkov. On board were the seasoned and youthful veteran Pyotr Klimuk and his Polish cosmonaut researcher, Miroslaw Hermaszewski. Their spacecraft docked with Salyut 26 hours 19 minutes later. During the brief mission, which reached 343 km (213 miles) in the 51.6° orbit, materials processing was high on the list of Polish priorities.

The Serena experiment was used to attempt to make usable cadmium-tellurium – mercury semi-conductor material, the most sensitive known director of infrared radiation, apparently worth thousands of pounds per gram. The Relaks experiment was dedicated to finding the best position in weightlessness in which to relax. The Zierna programme of Earth resources photography was somewhat thwarted when Hermaszewski’s homeland remained hidden below clouds. Then there was the Kardiolider experiment to study the cardiovascular system and the health experi­ment named Zdrowie. The final intensely scientific experiment was Smak, an inves­tigation of why some foods which tasted delicious on Earth tasted of sawdust in weightlessness.

The Pole’s mission ended in a maize field near Rostov, 300 km (186 miles) west of Tselinograd at T + 7 days 22 hours 2 minutes 59 seconds. A unique aspect of the mission was the Polish cosmonaut’s candid reflection of his sometimes pensive thoughts during the fiery re-entry.

Milestones

68th manned space flight

37th Soviet manned space flight

29th Soyuz manned space flight

2nd Interkosmos mission

1st manned space flight by a Polish cosmonaut

Flight Crew

BYKOVSKY, Valery Fyodorovich, 44, Soviet Air Force, commander, 3rd mission

Previous missions: Vostok 5 (1963); Soyuz 22 (1976)

JAEHN, Sigmund, 41, East German Air Force, cosmonaut researcher

Flight Log

Another science-packed international mission blasted off from Baikonur at 19: 51 hrs local time with commander Valery Bykovsky, on his third space flight – 15 years after his first – and a cosmonaut researcher from East Germany, Sigmund Jaehn. An emotional, bear-hugging and kissing welcome followed the docking with Salyut 6 one day after launch, and Jaehn got down to work.

His main tool was the East German Karl Zeiss MKF-6M multi-spectral Earth resources camera, which was also used to photograph a major military exercise in eastern Europe. The East German experiments included one called Rech which involved crew members repeating a series of numbers during the flight to see if their speech levels changed. There was another, called Audio, which was to “study subtle nuances of sound”, that is, a hearing test. Other work included operations using the Splav furnace to study crystal growth.

After seven days aboard Salyut, during which they reached 355 km (221 miles) altitude at 51.6°, Bykovsky and Jaehn left residents Kovalenok and Ivanchenkov with their fresh spacecraft and landed inside Soyuz 29 – the first spacecraft switch involving an international crew – at T + 7 days 20 hours 49 minutes 4 seconds, 140 km (87 miles) southeast of Dzhezkazgan.

Milestones

69th manned space flight

38th Soviet manned space flight

30th Soyuz manned space flight

3rd Interkosmos mission

1st manned space flight by an East German

Int. Designation	1984-113A
Launched	8 November 1984
Launch Site	Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed	16 November 1984
Landing Site	Runway 15 North, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Launch Vehicle	OV-103 Discovery/ET-16/SRB A65; A66/SSME #1 2109;
	#2 2018; #3 2012
Duration	7 days 23 hrs 44 min 56 sec
Callsign	Discovery
Objective	Satellite deployment and retrieval mission

Flight Crew

HAUCK, Frederick Hamilton “Rick”, 43, USN, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-7 (1983)

WALKER, David Mathieson, 40, USN, pilot

ALLEN, Joseph Percival, 47, civilian, mission specialist 1, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-5 (1982)

FISHER, Anna Lee Tingle, 35, civilian, mission specialist 2 GARDNER, Dale Allan, 36, USN, mission specialist 3, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-8 (1983)

Flight Log

The loss of the Westar and Palapa communications satellites in useless orbits during the Shuttle STS 41-B mission was unkindly blamed on the Shuttle, which had an opportunity to make spectacular amends the following November. Lloyds of London had paid out about $270 million for the loss of the satellites, and in the hope of recouping some of that loss it invested a further $15 million to mount the most ambitious Shuttle mission yet: to retrieve the satellites, return them to Earth, refurbish them, re-sell them and re-launch them into orbit, generating perhaps $90 million and reducing the overall insurance loss.

STS 51-A was to have been just a routine deployment mission for its five crew, including Joe Allen (EV1) and Dale Gardner (EV2), who as the EVA crewmen devised the rescue plan with satellite contractors. Discovery’s take-off was delayed by a day when the count was stopped due to high winds at altitude, but all went well the following day at 07:15 hrs local time when STS 51-A ascended into clear blue skies, treating observers to a fine view of SRB separation. The Anik and Leasat commu­nications satellites were routinely deployed on the second and third days, and even­tually found themselves on station in geostationary orbit.

Joe Allen retrieves the Palapa satellite using the MMU and the “stinger” device

On 12 November, Discovery made a rendezvous to within 10 m (33 ft) of the first stranded satellite, Palapa, which had been nudged into a lower orbit by remote control to facilitate the rescue. The Shuttle performed a record 16 manoeuvres for the rendezvous in the 28° orbit, which reached a maximum altitude of 312 km (194 miles). Joe Allen, floating inside his spacesuit, propelled himself across to Palapa using an MMU, and with the aid of a docking rod called a “stinger” joined up with the satellite’s apogee motor nozzle. Allen and his catch were themselves then snared by RMS, deftly operated by Anna Fisher. Meanwhile, inside the payload bay, Gardner cut away at the satellite’s antenna to ensure that it could fit inside the payload bay in a special frame. The frame didn’t work, however, and Allen had to hold the 544 kg (1,200 lb) satellite steady over his head for 77 minutes while Gardner fixed a con­tingency adapter. The procedure worked so well that it was decided that when

Gardner rescued Westar the following day, the same method would be used again, with Allen again playing Charles Atlas.

The two EVAs lasted 6 hours 13 minutes and 6 hours 1 minutes, with Allen and Gardner clocking up 2 hours 22 minutes and 1 hour 40 minutes MMU flying time. It had been a brilliant demonstration of human abilities in space and the unique capability of the Shuttle system. Discovery came home to runway 15 at the KSC, at T + 7 days 23 hours 44 minutes 56 seconds and the crew later received the Lloyds Silver Medal for the first salvage in space. After much effort, Lloyds managed to dispose of the refurbished satellites. Westar became Asiasat and was scheduled to be launched by a Chinese Long March 3 in 1990. Palapa was re-sold to Indonesia and was also launched in 1990, by a Delta 2 from Cape Canaveral.

Milestones

102nd manned space flight 45th US manned space flight 14th Shuttle mission 2nd flight of Discovery

1st retrieval of satellites and their return to Earth 20th US and 29th flight with EVA operations

Gardner celebrates his 36th birthday with the launch of STS 51-A (8 November)

STS-28 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015

Int. Designation	1989-061A
Launched	8 August 1989
Launch Site	Pad 39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed	13 August 1989
Landing Site	Runway 17, Edwards Air Force Base, California
Launch Vehicle	OV-102 Columbia/ET-31/SRB BI-028/SSME #1 2019;
	#2 2022; #3 2028
Duration	5 days 1 hr 0 min 9 sec
Callsign	Columbia
Objective	Fourth classified DoD Shuttle mission

Flight Crew

SHAW, Brewster Hopkinson Jr., 44, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-9 (1983); STS 61-B (1985)

RICHARDS, Richard Noel, 42, USN, pilot ADAMSON, James C., 43, US Army, mission specialist 2 LEESTMA, David Cornell, 40, USN, mission specialist 1, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 41-G (1984)

BROWN, Mark Neil, 38, USAF, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

In 1985, NASA announced the crew of a Department of Defense mission, STS 61-N, the last crew to be named before the Challenger disaster, which of course cancelled the mission. It eventually became known as STS-28, with one crew replacement. STS-28, by rights, should have taken off in late 1988 or early 1989, but the main reason for the delay to August 1989 was that the refurbishment of the oldest orbiter, Columbia, was taking much longer than anticipated. Columbia was being brought up to the standard of the later orbiters and even in early 1989 was short of 2,400 heatshield tiles. Other processing difficulties and parts shortages meant that the launch schedule had to be changed, with STS-33 moving to November to accommodate STS-28.

Columbia eventually reached the pad on 14 July and was ready to go at 07: 57 hrs local time on 8 August. Fog on the Shuttle runway at KSC took time to lift, so Columbia remained Earthbound for 40 minutes, leaving the pad at 08: 37 hrs, heading up the eastern seaboard of the USA into its 57° inclination orbit. On its fifth orbit, the crew deployed the advanced reconnaissance satellite KH-12 (USA-40). A smaller satellite was deployed the next day and the crew conducted classified experiments and one unclassified experiment on radiation monitoring before coming home to Edwards Air Force Base runway 17 at T + 5 days 1 hour 0 minutes 9 seconds, just after sunrise.

The STS-28 crew poses in the now-familiar “starburst” formation. Clockwise from top left: Shaw, Adamson, Leestma, Brown and Richards

Later, it was reported that the KH-12 was spinning out of control in orbit and was inoperable. Apparently, however, the satellite was brought under control. The classified nature of the mission was lifted later, when a photo of the crew in orbit was released. This was the final re-qualification mission of the Shuttle fleet as part of the Return-to-Flight programme.

Milestones

126th manned space flight 60th US manned space flight 30th Shuttle mission 8th flight of Columbia 4th Shuttle DoD mission

Flight Crew

VIKTORENKO, Aleksandr Stepanovich, 42, Soviet Air Force, commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz TM3 (1981)

SEREBROV, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich, 45, civilian, flight engineer,

3rd mission

Previous missions: Soyuz T1 (1982); Soyuz T8 (1983)

Flight Log

The Soviet Union’s premier space station, Mir, which was to have been permanently manned from February 1981 when the TM2 crew boarded her, remained empty for four months during 1989 as engineers readied the much-delayed add-on modules for launch so that future crews would have something more to do than use the Kvant telescopes and operate within the relatively cramped quarters of the Mir core module and Kvant. On 23 August 1989, there was a sure sign that Mir was being readied for another crew when a Progress was launched to dock with the station two days later. This was the first of a new series, called Progress M, a basic uprated version that would, according to the Soviets, carry a small re-entry vehicle to return 15O kg (331 lb) of samples in the future.

Soyuz TM8, which should have been launched the previous April, was readied on Pad 1, daubed for the first time with advertisements, and launched at 03: 38 hrs local time at Baikonur on 6 September, docking manually after a minor malfunction two days later. The commander was, as expected, Aleksandr Viktorenko, but his flight engineer was not Aleksandr Balandin of the TM8 that should have launched in April, but Aleksandr Serebrov, in space at last and sure that his new modules would be launched.

The first of these modules was to carry the first Soviet manned manoeuvring unit which Serebrov helped to develop. The launch of the first module, designated “D”, was due in October and the second, designated “T’’ later in the year. The first got off

The crew of Soyuz TM8: Victorenko (left) and Serebrov

the ground much later than planned in 1989, but the second was delayed again, first to January then to Spring 1990, by which time another crew were scheduled to replace the TM8 crew, who were due to return to Earth on 19 February 1990. The delay to the “D” module from October to November was due to problems with checking it out for launch when several faults were found, a fact that was announced self-critically by Soviet officials.

The 19,565 kg (43,141 lb) module was finally launched on 26 November and was called Kvant 2. It gave a performance in space rather reminiscent of its predecessor in 1987. First, one of its two solar panels failed to deploy and there were suggestions that an EVA would be required to pull it out when the module arrived at Mir. Then the first docking attempt was called off at a distance of 20 km (12 miles) from the station because Kvant 2 was not in the right orbit. A subsequent attempt on 6 December was successful. The docking took place at the front port, replacing Progress M which had made the first front port unmanned tanker docking while TM8 was at the rear.

Kvant 2 was then ingeniously moved to a side port at the front by a simple crane­like device. TM8 moved back to the front after a crewed 20 minute fly around and was replaced at the rear by Progress M2 on 20 December, which for the first time carried a commercial US experiment to be operated by Soviet cosmonauts. Kvant 2 was fitted

with a wide EVA airlock, the MMU, scientific equipment, a remote-sensing camera and life support systems, including a shower.

On 9 January, Viktorenko and Serebrov made an EVA lasting 2 hours 56 minutes, using the Mir core module airlock, and moving as far as the rear of Kvant to install two 80 kg (176 lb) star sensors. A second EVA on 11 January, lasting 2 hours 54 minutes, made alterations to the docking port on Mir to receive the “T” module which was due in March. They also retrieved some materials left outside by the TM7 EVA cosmonauts. A third walk was completed on 26 January, and was the first to use the new wider airlock on Kvant 2. During the 3 hour 2 minute EVA, Viktorenko and Serebrov assembled a magnetic device on the outside of Kvant 2 on which the Icarus MMU could be placed during later planned spacewalks. The first of these came on 1 February, when Serebrov became the first Soviet to operate an MMU – which was tethered to Mir – moving as far as 33 m (108 ft) from the station. This 4 hour 59 minute EVA was followed on 5 February by a 3 hour 45 minute effort, during which Viktorenko also had a go on the MMU, extending the distance from Mir to 45 m (147 ft). Icarus weighed 220 kg (485 lb) and was powered by 32 compressed air thrusters, 16 of which were primary thrusters. Maximum speed available was 30m/sec (98ft/sec).

After cramming in the five spacewalks, which lasted a total of over 17 hours, the cosmonauts were joined by Anatoly Solovyov and Aleksandr Balandin in Soyuz TM9 on 13 February, and prepared to come home. They landed in biting winds and temperatures of—30° C 55 km (34 miles) northeast of Arkalyk at T + 166 days 6 hours 58 minutes, to a Soviet Union and Soviet bloc that had changed dramatically in such a relatively short time. This was the seventh longest manned space flight.

Milestones

127th manned space flight

67th Soviet manned space flight

60th Soyuz manned space flight

7th Soyuz TM manned space flight

15th Soviet and 38th flight with EVA operations

1st Soviet manned flight to operate commercial US experiments

1st Soviet test of MMU (tethered)

Serebrov celebrates his 46th birthday in space (15 Feb)

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