page_title: VA spacecraft
section_title: TKS spacecraft
hierarchical_section_title: VA spacecraft / Design / Almaz space station support craft / TKS spacecraft
caption_attribution_description: English: A diagram showing a cutaway of the Soviet TKS crew delivery/cargo spacecraft. Details are conjectural. The broad black line outlines the vehicle’s pressurised compartments. (en:WP:DUBIOUS, see File talk:TKS cutaway.png#Pressurized volume) A tunnel (stippled) connects the FGB and VA capsule.
context_page_description: The Vozvraschaemyi Apparat, or VA spacecraft, was a Soviet crew capsule, intended to serve as a crewed launch and reentry vehicle. Initially designed for the LK-1 human lunar flyby spacecraft for one of the Soviet crewed lunar programs, then the LK-700 redesign, it was later repurposed for the Almaz military space station program.
  The VA capsule on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was labeled as Merkur, following a mistranslation of the original documentation – while incorrect, the name is being used in the West for the VA spacecraft and capsule.
  The VA spacecraft was capable of independent flight – up to 31 hours in its last incarnation – it needed however to be combined with additional hardware to achieve a longer flight duration. Three different such usage scenarios for the VA spacecraft were planned: Initially the LK-1 spacecraft, and after LK-1's cancellation the plans for Almaz APOS and the TKS spacecraft utilized the VA spacecraft.
  For the lunar flyby spacecraft LK-1, the plans by Vladimir Chelomei's design bureau OKB-52 were to mate an VA spacecraft together with an Equipment-Rocket System Block and the Translunar Injection Stage.
context_section_description: For the flights of the subsequent crews of an Almaz space station, the VA spacecraft would have been mated with a Functional Cargo Block (FGB, 11F77) instead. Together the VA and the FGB would form the crewed TKS spacecraft (11F72) for crew and resupply flights to Almaz space stations – the VA would serve in its role as launch and reentry vehicle for the crew, while the FGB would serve as a propulsion system, pressurized cargo carrier and contain the docking hardware.
  A few TKS spacecraft flew uncrewed missions, but never to an Almaz-OPS station. The FGB would however continue to find use and form the basis for several space station modules – the FGB concept is as of 2012 still in use for the Zarya FGB, albeit in modified form.
caption: Cutaway drawing of a TKS spacecraft (details are conjectural). The FGB (on the left) features a tunnel (stippled) that connects it to the VA spacecraft on the right. The broad black line outlines the approximate pressurized volume accessible to the crew. The docking unit of the TKS is on the far left.
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