March 1980:Salyut 6 Expedition 3

Salyut 6 in Automatic Flight

Before leaving their home in orbit the Photons, Vladimir Kovalenok and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov, had cleaned its compartments and prepared it for its next visitors. Their final tasks included putting the flight control systems of the 13.5 metre long station into the automatic flight regime. In this mode the station returned data to the Kaliningrad Flight Control Centre (FCC) six times per day via the tracking stations located on the USSR’s land mass. The five tracking ships which were stationed in the world’s oceans during the flight of the Photons were recalled to their home ports following the successful recovery of cosmonauts Kovalenok and Ivanchenkov on 2 November 1978 after their record-breaking 139 day 14 hour 48 minute flight. One of the ships, the Kosmonavt Pavel Belyayev, had been on station for over 200 days in connection with the flight.

During the Salyut’s automatic flight specialists at the FCC concentrated on controlling the station’s thermal regime,energy reserves, orientation and attitude control. A Soviet report said that ‘solar radiation, undiminished by the atmosphere, makes the casing and external parts (of the Salyut) very hot ..although the casing is protected by a vacuum and screen insulating coat, the problem of eliminating heat (remains) difficult and serious. The report also commented that in order to supply electrical energy to the many important mechanisms and systems during the period of automatic flight the station had to be oriented by means of the small attitude control motors; 32 of them are located in 4 clusters, one each at 90° intervals around the 4.15 metre diameter section. These manoeuvres enable the three sets of solar panels to recharge the electrical storage batteries. The flight controllers also conducted unspecified trials of “separate onboard systems, units and equipment”. The parameters of the microclimate within the working compartments of the station were being maintained “within the planned limits”.

By 1100 (GMT) on 29 December the station’s orbit had dropped to one having a period of 91.2 minutes from the 91.7 minute one the Progress 4 transport cargo craft had put the station into just before the end of the 140 day flight. The height of the orbit ranged between 337 to 357 km. The Salyut was at its nominal 51.6° inclination.

Early in January 1979 the Soviets reported that the main mission of the Salyut 6 station had already been fulfilled. The Soviet cosmonaut chief Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shatalov reported on 15 January that Soviet specialists were examining the possibilities of the station being able to receive other cosmonauts. He noted that crews with members from the USSR,Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Cuba and Mongolia were training for flights at Star City, near Moscow. Shatalov described the two Bulgarian candidates, for Radio Sofia, as “good, skilled pilots and charming people who (had) enjoyed an immediate, warm reception on the part of the Soviet spacemen. The Interkosmonauts had, by 9 February, successfully completed their basic theoretical training and were now working in trainers as members of crews together with their experienced Soviet commanders who have flown more than once in space.”

By 15 February the station’s orbit had sunk to one with a period of 90.7 minutes, ranging in height from 307 to 330 km. It was anticipated by Salyut observers that a manoeuvre which would place Salyut 6 back into a nominal 91.4 minute orbit,similar to the one performed on 16 May 1978 prior to the commencement of the Soyuz 29 flight,would precede the launch of a manned flight to the station. Conditions within the station’s working compartments were good: temperature 16°C.; pressure, 750 mm. Speaking on Radio Moscow’s World Service Aleksandr Ivanchenkov said that the air in the station "at the moment is clean, calm and warm.” The Photons had returned samples of the air inside Salyut which had shown that it was “quite satisfactory” for further habitation.

In early February the first indications were seen, in the deployment of Soviet military forces into positions they would normally occupy during manned flights, that a new crew was preparing to board the Salyut 6 space station. Some observers linked the activity with an anticipated Luna probe, noting that the Salyut had not made the anticipated manoeuvre to its optimum orbit. It was unclear whether this lack of manoeuvring activity was planned because the Salyut’s fuel reserves were so low as to make it impossible, or whether the Soviets wanted to assess the condition of the station before deciding on the continuation of manned flights to the station. Konstantin Feoktistov, Chief Designer of Soviet spacecraft,said that during the unmanned flight of the station its systems had been monitored via telemetry. Most of the systems, particular the life support, flight directional and power supply systems, had been found to be far from exhausted. Plans were therefore drafted for the next crew to Salyut to assess on-the-spot the condition of the station and its ability to receive more manned visits. Following the reactivation of the station the cosmonauts were scheduled to carry out a careful inspection,“in a definite order”, of the operational capabilities of the about 1000 individual instruments and systems of the 19 tonne station. If an instrument’s primary system was found to have failed the cosmonauts would switch to the reserve circuit, or,if the parts were available, replace the primary unit. The Soviets claimed that up to the launch of Soyuz 32 “not one reserve circuit in any system (onboard the Salyut) has been switched on,” a statement clearly at odds with a report in Komolskaya Pravda at the beginning of February 1978 which said that prior to the Soyuz 27 docking the Taymyr crew,Romanenko and Grechko, had found that one of Salyut’s four voice transmitters had malfunctioned and the cosmonauts had switched over to a reserve.

Some specific items were scheduled to be replaced anyway,such as ventilators in the STR thermoregulation system, lights, individual cables for the TV and communications equipment, components of the veloergometer and the running track and filters and regenerators of the life-support systems.

Such repairs were made possible because of the Salyut’s design which, using modular ‘plug-in’ electronics units, provided for replacement of these individual systems. For example,the Photons replaced the Globus (Globe) instrument panel,located on the main control panel, and new computer units for the Delta autonomous navigation system with identical units brought to them by the Progress 2 cargo spacecraft. The Soviets pointed out that although an item had to be replaced this did not mean that the equipment had broken down. Progress spacecraft had made it possible to provide replacement units for ones that were approaching the end of their planned operational life. It was considered prudent to replace those units for new ones than risk them breaking down later. During the assessment the crew would radio their requirements to the FCC and if the station was found to be perfectly usable a Progress ferry would be launched to bring the supplies to the station. The final decision on the items would be left to the cosmonauts themselves.

Clearly the cosmonauts for this flight faced a major task. The Soviets chose a crew with only 2 days of spaceflight experience, and those days were on the Soyuz 25 abort. The crew commander was a rookie, Lt. Col. Vladimir Lyakhov,and his flight engineer civilian Valeri Ryumin. Both men were reserve for the Soyuz 29 flight.

Once in the Soyuz command cabin, strapped into their contoured seats, the cosmonauts were played music as they awaited the signal to launch. The cosmonauts, with their visors down and their gloves on, were reliant on their small portable "climate boxes’’. B/W TV beamed to the Flight Control Centre at Kaliningrad showed the cosmonauts in the cabin. Soon the final command was given and the rocket’s first stage lit up and began to build up the thrust to lift the rocket into the air. It was 1154 (all times in this report are GMT) on February 25th 1979 and the third long-term stay crew to Salyut 6 were on their way. About 2 minutes after the lift-off the rocket shed the four strap-on boosters surrounding the central core. The central core, with an RD-108 engine,was cast off at about 170 km altitude the third stage then took over to carry the Soyuz 32 spacecraft and its 2 man crew into an orbit ranging from 205 x 225 km. The Protons (their callsign) prepared for their first tasks, checking out the systems of the Soyuz, and also moving for a time into the Orbital Compartment.

Before the cosmonauts retired for the night the orbit of their spacecraft was altered by a burn of the Soyuz’s 4 kN thrust engine (probably on the 4th revolution), to one of 224 x 283 km with a period of 89.6 minutes. Both Soyuz 32 and its target, the Salyut 6 space station, were at an inclination of 51.6° to the equator.

The crew began their second working day in space at 0530. The crew prepared for their docking with the station. FCC controlled the flight until, following at least one more manoeuvre, with the TV camera of Soyuz beaming back pictures of their target, Lyakhov guided the Soyuz docking probe into the drogue of Salyut’s forward docking unit. At 1330, 26 February, came the message “Yest Stikovka!” ("There’s Docking!”). The Salyut 6/Soyuz 32 complex was in a 296 x 309 km orbit.

Following the standard checks of the rigidity and airtightness of the docking the Protons entered the station. Their first tasks were, as always, to switch on the internal lights and to mothball the systems of the Soyuz 32 ferry. They installed an air hose between the vehicles to facilitate the flow of air between the two vehicles. The fans of the Salyut ventilation system caused the air in the station to circulate at a speed of about 0.8-1 m/sec and the station interior had the smell of a pine forest thanks to the ’Svezhest’ air freshness system.

As the docking had used only half the fuel budgeted for it,the flight controllers took the opportunity to use the spare fuel to raise the orbit of the complex halfway to the nominal 91.4 minute orbit. The planned Progress resupply flight then would boost the complex the rest of the way. So it was that in the afternoon of 1 March the cosmonauts fired the engines of the Soyuz 32 spaceship to raise the height of the orbit by about 35 km. The new orbital parameters were 308 x 338 km with a period of 90.9 minutes. In a memorable slip-of-the-tongue on the Radio Moscow home service, FCC ballistics group leader Vladimir Gavrilov said that “in (the Salyut's) new orbit of 350 km the station's flight path takes it over the same area of the Earth every two days”. The statement was soon corrected to read that the manoeuvre was “the first step to bring (the Salyut) up to 350 km - the most convenient orbit for an inhabited station”.

Adaptation to Weightlessness

The first jobs for the Protons on Salyut 6 were to reactivate all of the station’s life-support systems, a job completed by the end of the first week in orbit. These systems, the supply of air, water etc., were designed to provide the essentials of life in space but the major concern for the flight controllers of the first days was how the crew, with only 2 days of spaceflight activity behind them, coped with weightlessness.

Soviet medical specialists noted from previous flights that there were three peak loads during the body’s adaptation to the weightless state. These were: (1) the initial onset of weightlessness; (2) the “complex dynamic operations during docking and transfer”; (3) the emotional strain. From previous experience a standard schedule of tolerable loads during the first days of work in weightlessness had been drawn up. The aim was to enter the "cosmic rhythm without rushing”.

Doctors were concerned that Lyakhov, a solidly built person, might, on his first encounter with weightlessness, experience problems. They therefore concentrated the greater part of his pre-flight training programme on ‘tuning’ his vestibular system. Ryumin’s training concentrated on maintaining a high degree of functioning of his cardiovascular system. The cosmonauts were given a complex cycle of training sessions which took account of the time factor and the number and duration of training sessions. Lyakhov experienced 4 days of acute adaptation. However, towards the evening of the second day of the flight, settled in Salyut, he reported that the malaise had passed without his needing to resort to drugs or other medication. Ryumin, on the other hand, adapted well and no changes in his pulse rate, blood pressure or general state were monitored. The basis of his adaptation was stated to be the experience of his previous flight.

The cosmonauts gave each other comprehensive medical checks one day every week and on at least one occasion Ryumin, shortly after awaking, had the dynamics of his blood circulation measured while he was still in his bed, in conditions of complete rest. This made it possible to assess the changes in the bodily functions during the adaptation to weightlessness.The crew checked the bio electric activity of each other’s hearts and other functions using the Polinim 2M apparatus. Lyakhov then had a comprehensive examination of his blood circulation, measured to determine the redistribution of blood in his body and the condition of his cardiovascular system. The medical examinations also used encephalograms, oncolograms, reograph and seismograph apparatus to determine their own physical parameters.

The results of their medical checks were radioed to them from the FCC by Doctor Boris Yegorov, the head of the medical service, who told them that their cardiograms were normal. Lyakhov had lost weight in the first days of the flight up to 3 kg, although by the end of the first week he had regained 2 kg of that. Ryumin had actually gained 1 kg. Every morning the men measured their weight using the massmeter located on the Salyut’s ceiling. The readings were telemetered to the FCC.

Yegorov asked the crew how they were managing without smoking. Lyakhov, a smoker for 28 years, replied that they were managing quite well. They reported that their appetites were "quite fantastic” and that they were sleeping well, from midnight until eight in the morning (Moscow Time). By 7 March the Protons had entered a work regime where both of the crew members were permitted to do “physical exercises in full measure”. The cosmonauts also wore, as all the previous crews had done, the ‘Penguin’ suit which, using elastic cords,exerted a pull on various groups of muscles.

In other aspects the cosmonauts experienced niggling problems. They found it difficult to eat with jars, spoons and forks flying about. On another occasion they opened a container full of fruit flies for a biological experiment and allowed several of them to escape into the station's working compartment. The cosmonauts then had to rush about for several minutes catching them.

Settling in

With effect from 28 February the Protons entered a working timetable that lasted from 0500 to 2000 for five days a week with Saturday and Sunday off, as had been the procedure for the previous crew. The cosmonauts’ only planned activities on these two “days of active rest” were systems monitoring and physical exercises to keep their muscles in trim. “Physical exercise is very important for stressing muscles which are inactive,” Ryumin told viewers during a TV broadcast.

They were able to play chess, watch the video monitor with tapes they had brought to the station (after they had linked it to a video monitoring device via a small electrical unit they were able to view their own telecasts) and were making use of their cassette library. During conversations with the station the controllers could often hear songs and melodies and on a few occasions the crew beamed the music specifically to the FCC. It took them a while to settle down and read the books in the station’s library.

The Protons began a number of minor biological experiments soon after settling into their cosmic home. These included studies of the effects of weightlessness on the growth of higher plants and tissue cultures and the fruit flies that had troubled them earlier. They planted green onions in a nutrient solution. Using the flowerpots utilised by the Photons to grow onions and other plants the new occupants planted a garden growing cucumbers, an activity described as “more for the soul than science”. The crew’s farming also included growing onions, dill and parsley to eat.

Assessing the Job

At the end of February Konstantin Feoktistov told reporters that the Proton’s primary purpose was to act as "experts and appraise the condition of ail the systems of the complex”. The first of these checks, the docking manoeuvre, had proved that the systems of approach and docking were functioning perfectly. It will be recalled that Salyut orientates itself to the oncoming spacecraft with the docking port to be used facing it, using automatic steering aids.

Earlier crews had only minor repair and installation work to perform involving replacement of such items of lamps and ventilators but the new occupants had to replace entire assemblies and units "to enable the station to operate for a long time yet and ensure the (present) team onboard”. On Salyut 6, for the first time, the activation and testing of new apparatus was done in the station itself. For this task the cosmonauts were provided with a wide selection of repair and installation tools which, in design and use, were specially created for use in space. They included pliers, vices, clamps and screwdrivers,one of which proved to be a spectacular failure when Lyakhov tried to unscrew a panel. He turned instead of the screw! Lyakhov soon solved the problem by holding the screwdriver in place, stretching out until his feet touching a wall and pushed as Ryumin turned the screwdriver. For attaching items at specific points in the station special bolts and nuts were provided.

The cosmonauts took into orbit with them a “most ordinary soldering iron” for repairing soldered joints. They used the new tool first to repair the head of the Vatra videotape recorder which had a lifetime of between 200-300 hours. The soldering iron worked and special filters gathered up the resulting chips of metal and prevented them getting into scientific apparatus or control panels. New methods had been developed to enable the cosmonauts to connect the VTR head without the help of a microscope, which would have been necessary on Earth.

The Proton's programme of preventative maintenance and repair on the station (prior to the launch of Progress 5) entailed them replacing worn cables and other mobile elements, such as switches and headsets, on the radio system “which suffers considerable wear during a long flight”. They also installed a stellar tracker, “a new instrument”, which they linked to the station’s navigation equipment; tested the station’s manual control and attitude control systems; examined the hatch opening mechanisms and checked the airtightness of the Splav-01 airlock chamber; reloaded and checked the MKF-6M camera; replaced ventilators and changed all of the station’s old lamps for new.

The crew made a detailed inventory of all the station's onboard equipment, including the portable items and tools left by the Photons, and equipped their work posts which were dotted around the station. There are 7 such work posts: the main control panel, the velo-ergometer, MKF-6M camera,BST-4M telescope and 3 ’astroposts’ with telescopes including an infrared inferometer measuring stellar radiation and other devices recording cosmic and solar radiations. One astropost is located in the main work section and the other two are in the forward transfer compartment. Busy as they were the Protons still found time to show TV viewers around their station examining the various devices and showing the canteen and shower.

Progress 5

The expected launch of the fifth Progress resupply craft occurred at 0547 on 12 March from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was placed into an initial orbit of 191 x 269 km with a period of 88.8 minutes at 51.6° inclination. The carrier rocket was a standard A-2 minus the aerodynamic spoilers of the launch escape system.

Over the next 2 days the orbit was corrected a total of 5 times on command from the FCC and the tracking ships Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin (45,000 tonnes); Kosmonavt Vladislav Volkov (9,000 t); Kosmonavt Vladimir Komarov (17,500 t); Morzhovets (5,271); Kegostrov (5,271) and Chazhma (14,065 t). These ships also helped maintain radio and telemetric contact with the Salyut station.

Progress 5 was guided to the point where, once in the ‘‘assembly orbit', the ‘Igla’ (Needle) radio navigation equipment system took over. In the words of a Radio Moscow commentator: "finally the illuminated markers on the screen of the FCC drew closer together and the automatic rendezvous system of the Salyut station took over. Its TV camera sighted the approaching transport and relayed the pictures to the FCC ... The docking operation this time was not expected to be easy ... Progress 5 approached from the direction of the Sun, making the work of the crew, who were using optical and TV devices, more difficult. The crew conducted a running commentary on the operation, reporting that they were watching the automatic devices align the approach of the two ships. They said that they could see the craft’s beacon light which was serving to monitor the alignment. Finally they reported contact and at 330 km altitude the steel grips of the two docking assemblies reliably, with a force of 20 tonnes, linked the two orbital craft together”. It was 0720 on 14 March and the link-up had taken place 4 minutes earlier than planned. The complex was in a 296 x 325 km orbit.

Progress 5 delivered 2300 kg of cargo, a full load, which comprised 1000 kg of fuel and 1300 kg of dry cargoes including spare parts required for routine maintenance tasks. Specific delivered items included:

LIFE SUPPORT: Spare systems for regeneration of water from condensate; absorbers; water from the Moscow region “treated with silver ions” for longer preservation.

EQUIPMENT: 6 signalling devices to be located at the work posts to detect "buildup of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which also serves as a fire warning system based upon the detection of smoke.” ; tape recorder; ’Koltso’ (Ring) walkie-talkie system for internal communications between crew members in different sections of the station; a new “technologically improved” furnace; sets of film and materials for technological experiments; replacements for one of the two panels of the command-signal unit, and a reserve storage battery.

NUTRITION: Food, in plastic containers: “first course dishes in tubes, second course dishes in jars or special packets”. The food wasfreeze-dried, and prepared using hot water;coffee and tea to last for the duration ofthe mission; five different types of breadfrom wheat to rye; fresh vegetables, apples,onions and, at their own request, honey and freeze-dried strawberries.

HYGIENE: The crew received new linen and clothes for both work and exercise; bath shampoo; and linen dryer to help with the laundry.

On board the Salyut station at the time of the Progress 5 launch there were "practically no renewable resources which were stored there before the station was launched”. All of the station’s functioning life-support equipment such as regenerators, absorbers and some consumables, as well as scientific equipment had been delivered by the Progress ferries. A Soviet spokesman said that there had been certain deviations noted in the power output from the solar cells, noting that engineers had foreseen this eventuality and planned for it.

Unloading Progress

Because of the desire of FCC to verify the rigidity and seal of the Salyut/Progress docking interface, the opening of the internal hatches between the two spacecraft was delayed until the next day (15 March). The cosmonauts began that working day somewhat earlier than usual and at 0600 the internal hatch into Progress 5 was opened.

The first item the Protons unloaded was a 9 kg parcel containing letters, newspapers and small gifts from their families and friends. Over the next four days the two men unloaded the cargo craft’s 27 containers. In all they had some 500 different items to transfer including containers with foodstuffs,water and life-support systems. They ranged from small parcels to an 80 kg regeneration unit and containers with 5 gallons of water.

ODU Problem

The arrival of Progress 5 enabled the Soviets to rectify a problem with one of the three Salyut propellant tanks which had first been spotted at the end of the Photons’ flight. Soviet engineers noticed deviations in the control parameters in the main pneumatic line of the Combined Engine Installation or< ODU (the initials of the Russian name) supercharge system. The Soviets were at pains to stress that the deviations did not affect the overall functioning of the ODU, although it must be noted that from the time of its discovery the problem kept the Soviets from using the ODU for any manoeuvres.

During the period of the station’s autonomous flight specialists, studying telemetered information from technical experiments performed automatically, deduced that the cause of the trouble was damage (possibly a hole or perforation) to the membrane separating the liquid fuel and gaseous nitrogen in the tank. When the tank is full the membrane is pushed< against the side; and nitrogen is introduced to force fuel out into the main feed lines.

Although the overall functioning of the ODU was not threatened engineers decided that if the problem was not rectified it could lead to unstable functioning of the regulating valves of the fuel system and a wider malfunction of the ODU.They therefore decided to isolate the tank from the main system and switch to the reserve tank (the ODU is able to function on only 2 tanks) transferring in the process the remaining good fuel to the other 2 serviceable tanks. Salyut employs unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine as fuel and nitrogen tetroxide as oxidizer. The work plan was developed using a mock-up of the ODU and necessary experiments were carried out on ground test stands.

Early on 16 March the Protons switched on the Salyut’s manual guidance system and commanded the three-spacecraft complex to revolve slowly around its transverse axis by firing the attitude control jets. The centrifugal force thus created separated any mixed nitrogen and fuel, which had collected behind the membrane, from the main bulk of the fuel. The usable fuel then was automatically transferred into one of the other Salyut tanks and the residue was pumped to an empty tank in Progress 5. Then the vent valve was opened to clear the fuel tank and the fuel lines connected with it of the residual fuel. During the orbital operations similar tasks were performed on the ground with the physical analogue of the ODU and a mathematical model of the Salyut. The thrusters of the Progress ship were fired to stop the rotation and the FCC over the next 7 days rinsed the tank and the main line by leaving it exposed, via the vent valve, to open space using daily blasts of nitrogen from the compressor.At the end of this period, on 25 March, the valves were closed following one final burst of nitrogen. Four days later the tank was filled with compressed nitrogen and disconnected from the fuel system. Two days later the oxidizer tanks were prepared for refuelling.

Installation of Equipment

The Protons installed and checked, generally ahead of the timeline, many new items and pieces of equipment replacing those that had exceeded their planned working lives. A major item of equipment the crew installed was a new command unit which the Soviets say is capable of handling over 100 commands such as switching to manual orientation,selection of engines and communications. Tests confirmed that it was operating correctly.

The crew installed a new clock, replaced a scientific instrumentation control panel, plugged in a set of additional storage batteries “to restore the parameters of the control system," moved the sextant from one porthole to another, installed and tested the 'Koltso' (Ring) communications receivers and transmitters. In addition to providing for internal communications the Koltso system enabled the crew to communicate directly with FCC and allowed greater freedom of movement within the station. The men also installed the Yelena gamma ray telescope in the station’s scientific equipment compartment.

Undocking of Progress 5

Following completion of the unloading and installation of the equipment delivered by the Progress 5 transport the Protons began transferring used equipment, such as regenerators,absorbers, empty water and food containers into the cargo compartment of the unmanned cargo ship.

Before its work was completed and it was detached from Salyut 6 to plunge to destruction over the Pacific Ocean away from shipping lanes, the Progress 5 was used to twice raise the orbit of the complex. One manoeuvre on 30 March brought the station complex up to an orbit of 284 x 357 km with a period of 90.6 minutes; the second on 2 April, took it to its nominal 91.4 minute orbit. Following the first manoeuvre the station's propulsion system was topped up with oxidizer under the joint control of the crew and the FCC specialists.

The next day 3 April, at 1610, Progress 5 was commanded to undock from the Salyut 6/Soyuz 32 complex after a joint flight with the complex lasting 21 days. During its 2 days of autonomous flight a radio homing experiment was conducted. On 5 April the unmanned cargo spacecraft was commanded to fire its engines and enter the atmosphere.

The next major event was expected to be the launch of the fourth international crew to the station, following the successful flights of the Czechoslovakian, Polish and German cosmonauts during 1978. The Soviets said that cosmonauts from Bulgaria, Hungary, Cuba, Mongolia and Romania were training in Star City for flights in Soviet spaceships. The first crewmember from this group to fly was to be a Bulgarian. The selection of a Bulgarian was being explicitly stated as early as 26 February when the Bulgarian daily Rabotnichesko Delo had said that the repairs being done to the Salyut 6 station by the Protons brought closer the “starting stage for the forthcoming exploration of space by a Bulgarian citizen.” Later, on 17 March, the Bulgarian press agency BTA said that “much is expected from the work of the first Bulgaro-Soviet crew of the Soyuz which is to fly in space in a short period of time.”

As the cosmonauts aboard the Salyut 6 complex began work on their main flight programme which envisaged research into the Earth’s natural resources, the atmosphere, stellar processes,biological and medical research and materials processing in weightlessness, they gave the orbit of the complex a final “trim” on 6 April using the Soyuz 32 engines. On the 9th,Moscow reported that the crew had officially begun work on the main flight programme.

To mark the beginning of this programme the Soyuz 33 spaceship was launched on 10 April.

Soyuz 33 Crewmembers

As the cosmonauts were settling into their planned long flight aboard the Salyut 6 space station the first Interkosmos crew were preparing for their flight to the station to work on it for a week and return in the Soyuz 32 spacecraft. The crewmembers of the fourth InterKosmos crew were Soviet commander Nikolai Rukavishnikov, a civilian, and Bulgarian Air Force Major Georgi Ivanov. While the commander was a well known figure prior to the flight and his crewmate attracted all of the attention from the media, it must be noted that Rukavishnikov was the first civilian ever to command a Soviet manned spaceflight. When Rukavishnikov was named, on 4 March 1978, as the reserve commander of the Soviet/Czechoslovakian Soyuz 28 flight, there were those amongst Salyut observers who doubted that the Soviets would ever allow a civilian to command a manned flight.

Shortly before leaving for the Baikonur cosmodrome for their launch Rukavishnikov said that the Saturns (their call sign) were waiting "with great emotion for the launch and docking.” Bulgarian specialists had prepared 28 joint experiments in the fields of space physics, space technology, biology, medicine and remote sensing of the Earth. Some of the experiments had been delivered to the Salyut 6 in the Progress 5 cargo spacecraft. The Saturns were scheduled to work for one week aboard the Salyut. One of their experiments, called Spektr,had as its objective a spectroscopic survey of the Earth “for the first time in space.”

Launch of Soyuz 33

Cosmonauts Rukavishnikov and Ivanov, after their arrival at the launching pad late on 10 April, local time, gave short speeches. Rukavishnikov said that he was happy to be flying into space with Ivanov with whom he would conduct joint experiments. They boarded the carrier rocket just over 2 hours before the scheduled launch time. It was windy, with gusts up to 18 km/hr, prompting Rukavishnikov to tell Ivanov that he should “consider this as a rehearsal for weightlessness.”

A Bulgarian delegation was at the launching site to see their representative off. It comprised Dorbi Dzhurov, member of the Politburo of the Bulgarian Communist Party Central Committee; Angel K. Serafimov, Chairman of the Interkosmos Council of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Stoyan Mikhaylov, Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party Central Committee.

Once in the re-entry capsule of Soyuz 33 they checked the hermeticity of the compartments and its systems. B/W TV showed the crew in the cabin, with a small white doll dangling between them on an elastic thread. Rukavishnikov introduced the mascot as “our third crewmember... upon whom Georgi is to conduct a number of experiments in weightlessness.” In space Vladimir Lyakhov and Valeri Ryumin, who had adopted a timetable for the docking, said they were looking forward to the arrival of the Interkosmos crew.

As launch time approached the wind had increased with some gusts registering speeds of 40 km/hr. A Soviet report said that they were the worst conditions ever for a Soviet manned launch. Finally, at 17:34:33, the command “start” was given. The engines built up power and lifted the rocket into the air. 18 years previously, almost to the day, Yuri Gagarin called out “in a calm, almost nonchalant voice: 'poiekhali' (let’s go!)... Now Nikolai Rukavishnikov and Georgi Ivanov called out these same words, with the same calm.” During the launch phase Ivanov’s pulse rate was almost stable, between 72-74 beats/min,prompting Georgi Grechko to say that Ivanov may well turn out to be the calmest cosmonaut in the history of the Interkosmos programme. In just 10 minutes the spacecraft had left the high winds and all other earthly processes behind and was in orbit; soon the cosmonauts left the night time in which they had begun the flight and saw their first orbital sunrise over the Far East. Towards the end of their first orbit, in darkness again, the men established communications with the FCC via the research ship Kosmonavt Vladislav Volkov anchored off the coast of Africa.

At the FCC two groups of flight controllers were working simultaneously. One group tracked Soyuz 33 while the other monitored the Salyut 6/Soyuz 32 complex. During their second orbit the Saturns checked the approach and rendezvous systems. These systems checks lasted for the first three orbits during which the crew kept their space suits on. Following the safe completion of these checks they doffed the suits,opened the hatch of the Orbital Compartment and prepared for supper. They were given information about the orbital corrections which were scheduled to be carried out on the 4th and 5th orbits. The correction engines were activated during these orbits putting Soyuz 33 into an orbit "closer to that of Salyut 6.” At 0100 (11 April) the Saturns turned in for some well deserved rest. Their second working day was scheduled to begin at 1300. A Soviet report said that the docking was to occur "before” 2100 on the 11th (a more accurate estimate based upon previous launch/docking time differences indicates that docking was planned for about 1915).

Docking Problems

By 1300 on 11 April Soyuz 33 had completed 13 orbits. Following the manoeuvres the previous night the spacecraft was in an orbit with the parameters of: height 273 to 330 km; period 90.1 minutes. The crew reported that all of the ship's systems were working and the approach was progressing normally.

By 1830 the Soyuz was completing its 17th orbit and had made 5 orbit corrections to arrive at that point in space. At the FCC scarlet and pale blue lights, representing Soyuz 33 and the Salyut 6/Soyuz 32 complex, on the display screen were drawing closer together. The FCC was now able to hold conversations with both crews simultaneously as they entered the same communications zone.

Flight commander Aleksei Yeliseyev sent final instructions and the telecommunications operator read up calculations for the final manoeuvres before the rendezvous. Docking was scheduled for the next orbit. The distance between the two spacecraft was now about 3 km, Rukavishnikov later said that at this point all of the systems were working normally. But at 1854, when the approach was commanded and the time came to activate the engine for the approach to the Salyut, to slow the lateral velocity, Rukavishnikov, and engineers at the FCC via telemetry, noticed “deviations in the operating mode of the approach-correcting propulsion unit of the Soyuz 33 engine.” "We noticed something wrong with the engine’s function,” Rukavishnikov said.

The atmosphere at the FCC tensed as engineers sought,from the telemetered data, to isolate the fault. In space the crew had no way of diagnosing the fault on board as the spacecraft contained few readouts on the engine function (the duration of engine burns is controlled by the FCC with the crewmen timing ignition and shutdown on a stopwatch and reporting that to the controllers). The problem was all the more acute as a fault with the engines might affect the crew’s ability to return to the Earth. Despite the problem the two cosmonauts expressed their willingness, and desire, to continue the flight using hand operations and the reserve engines for the approach. The FCC specialists however adhered to the "ironclad law” to safeguard the life and health of the cosmonauts (it must be remembered that the Soyuz 33 was to be left in orbit for use by one of the later crews) and aborted the docking operation, instructing the crew to return to Earth using the alternative flight plan.

The Saturns reportedly acted coolly and calmly to the events although they were later to admit to a certain amount of bitterness about cancellation of the docking. Their most vital tasks now were to prepare for the descent which would be under emergency conditions in the western landing site near Dzhezkagan on the first available opportunity. Their descent,as had those of the Soyuz 29 and 31 ships, would take them over the Baikonur cosmodrome instead of the more used eastern site near Tselinograd. That event for the Saturn crew was still some 21 hours away. During the remaining time in orbit they conducted some Earth observations, slept and ate. Earlier Soyuz vehicles have been powered down to conserve electrical energy (the Soyuz ferry has only a 2 day battery power supply) following docking failures.

If electrical power was short then the one thing the cosmonauts had in abundance was advice. Before their final orbit the next day (12 April, Cosmonautics Day in the USSR),Vladimir Shatalov, using his call sign Granit (the FCC call sign is Zarya meaning Dawn), spoke to them over the radio. He told them of his confidence in them and in the equipment although he gave the option of overriding any of the preprogrammed sequence of events if they deemed it necessary and advised them that there were sufficient recovery teams around the landing site to meet them quickly, reminding them that the area where the Soyuz would touch down was not highly populated and was dotted with sparse small shrubs. Shatalov told them that as the touchdown would be at night they were to turn on their beacon "and use all other means” to attract the attention of the recovery helicopters. Rukavishnikov replied that the crew were prepared and were confident of success. Finally Shatalov told Rukavishnikov to ensure that Ivanov’s moustache was safely tucked inside the visor of his helmet before sealing it! The comment provided a moment of light relief before the difficult reentry.

Landing of Soyuz 33

From US data it appears that during a normal reentry sequence after separation from the Salyut laboratory a Soyuz makes two manoeuvres, the first achieving a low orbit, the other the reentry proper. It must be stressed that the Soviets, or the Interkosmos countries, do not report the first manoeuvre, if indeed it occurs. With Soyuz 33 only one manoeuvre was performed, dictating a steep, uncontrolled ballistic reentry. On its 27th orbit, about four orbits prior to the reentry, Soyuz 33 was tracked by western sensors in a 298 x 346 km orbit,reportedly higher than the normal attitude for retrofire.

After donning their spacesuits and verifying the hermeticity of the landing capsule the cosmonauts oriented the Soyuz,using the Earth’s horizon as their reference and then held the spacecraft in that attitude until the reserve, 411 kgf thrust, engine was fired over the South Atlantic on a command from an on-board timer, monitored by the research ship "Borovichi” (5,276 tonnes) anchored under the flight path. The engine fired successfully for 213 seconds. Following the shutdown of the engine, with the Soyuz now in a descent trajectory, the Orbital and Service modules separated from the Descent module containing the crewmen.

A ballistic descent is uncontrolled and dictated by the laws of gravity as distinct from the normal “lifting reentry” which is shallower and reduces overloads on the crewmen. During the 530 seconds of their descent the Saturns experienced between 8 to 10 g’s, compared with 3 to 4 g’s for a normal reentry. This meant that at one stage Rukavishnikov weighed about 10 times his normal 75 kg. Although in such conditions communications is difficult the crew were heard talking to each other,and Ivanov later said that he felt the load factor for several minutes. Outside the cabin the temperature reached 3000°C,giving Rukavishnikov the impression of having been thrust inside the flame of a blowtorch. He later reported that a lot of noise and vibration accompanied the descent.

From out of a cloudless sky, under a full Moon, the capsule,still red hot, was seen by a pilot of one of the recovery aircraft.The sight was later described as a brilliant light which approached at about one degree above the horizon. Soon the capsule cooled and the light faded. The cosmonauts were soon in contact with the recovery forces and were reporting that they were feeling well and that the main parachute had deployed. At 1635, in a cloud of dust blown up by the soft-landing motors, the capsule settled down on the ground, some 320 km south east of Dzhezkazgan, just 15 km away from the target area. A recovery aircraft was quickly circling overhead and the pilot, spotting the beacon light, pinpointed the position to the helicopters. When the helicopters arrived they found the Soyuz capsule had rolled onto its side (a common occurrence). The cosmonants had opened the hatch and were standing beside it waving. There followed some emotional greetings from their comrades. Physicians soon arrived at the landing site and, following a brief medical examination, pronounced the crew to be in good health.

Deputy flight director Viktor Blagov, at the FCC, praised the crew’s work and reactions during the Soviet Union’s “second successful ballistic reentry” and noted that they went “about their tasks after (the problem) and the way they perforrmed them has earned them the trust and respect of all my colleagues ... (the flight) has been the most complicated one we have ever had.” Soviet media reports were soon stressing the benefits the engineers were to reap from the study of the flight.

A cable to the crew from Bulgarian State Leader Todor Zhivkov praised their "high competence and skill, exceptional courage, strong willpower and heroism during the complications which interupted their honorary and difficult assignment.”

Return to Baikonur

The two cosmonauts were soon returned by air to the Baikonur cosmodrome for further intensive medical checks and de-briefing reports. There they were greeted by specialists in “sunny spring weather” which provided a marked contrast to the strong winds during their launch just three days earlier. During their first day at the cosmodrome (13 April) they were allowed to take a short walk around the Hotel Kosmonavt from where they had departed for the launching pad. To commemorate the flight they planted Bulgarian red roses in the hotel's garden. Rukavishnikov remarked that although they had been away from the Earth for just 2 days they felt “as though we had been working in space for a whole month.”

Soviet medical specialists noted that many other cosmonauts had described the same sensations “which can by no means be called subjective. “During the most crucial periods of work in orbit man gets the impression that each 90 minute period is equivalent in terms of the intensity of events and emotional load to a full 24 hours,” veteran cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov told reporters.

At a press conference held in a “casual, unaffected atmosphere” at the hotel, in an introduction, the crew were said to have shown “an exceptional precision, composure and courage ... and a profound professional knowledge of the systems of Soyuz. The cosmonauts told the assembled reporters that following extensive medical examinations and performing physical exercises they were feeling “quite well.” The press conference was attended by the cosmonauts’ physicians.

In his description of the flight Rukavishnikov said that “machinery is only machinery; things can go wrong. During the flight we had serious remarks to make on the functioning of the engines during the approach to Salyut. These reports forced the FCC to prematurely end the flight ... (to have proceeded) would not have been without danger.”

After their completion of post flight medicals and debriefing the crew arrived, on 23 April, at Zvezdyy Gorodok (Star City) near Moscow where the cosmonauts live. In their speeches Rukavishnikov stressed the benefits of space flight for the economy and Ivanov said that he was “proud of the part my small Bulgaria plays... in the Interkosmos programme.”

Awards for the Crews

The prime and reserve crews of the Soyuz 33 were awarded several state and national titles on 14 April. These included for Bulgarian cosmonauts Ivanov and Aleksandrov the titles “Cosmonaut flyer of the Bulgarian Peoples Republic,” “Hero of the Soviet Union,” “Hero of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria,” and Red Star medals of the USSR. In addition Ivanov was promoted to Lt-Col Engineer and Aleksandrov to Captain Engineer.

Soviet cosmonauts Rukavishnikov and Romanenko were awarded the title “Hero of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria” for their “active participation in preparations for the Soviet-Bulgarian spaceflight and services rendered for the cause of Soviet-Bulgarian friendship.” In addition Rukavishnikov was awarded an Order of Lenin by the Soviet government to add to his two "Hero of the Soviet Union” awards.

Real-Time Planning

Following the failure of the Soyuz 33 flight Soviet mission planners were forced to sit down and face a problem that they had not expected. The severity of the Soyuz 33 failure meant that perhaps the Soyuz 32 engine system could experience a similar fault; measures were forced upon the Soviet planners with which they were unaccustomed - real time planning, in US terminology.

On earlier Soyuz flights, in the event of failure of one system or another, the flight was abandoned and the mission goals reassigned to the reserve crew on the next flight. This conservatism is evidenced by the fact that it took the Soviet Union four years to achieve a basic two-flight, increased duration stay on a Salyut mission, from the initial troubles of Salyut 1 and Soyuz 10 and 11 through the Cosmos 557 Salyut failure to the eventual success of Salyut 4. With Salyut 6 the circumstances were different. With two men actually in space - with a possibly defective spaceship - the Soviet Union at last showed the increasing maturity of its Salyut programme.

For the first time in the history of the Soviet manned spaceflight programme cosmonauts were in orbit during the May Day celebrations, the major Soviet holiday. To celebrate the event the Protons became the first cosmonauts to be given a holiday during a flight. The rest from scientific work seems to have lasted almost five days during which the FCC worked harder than usual to free the crew from their mandatory tasks and provide them with interesting active rest days (although there was no respite from the obligatory 2 hours per day of intensive physical exercises the men performed).

Progress 6

Even as the holiday period progressed work was continuing on the preparation of the Progress 6 cargo spaceship. Prior to the launch of the sixth Progress the orbital complex made an unreported manoeuvre which had the effect of shifting the launch window by one day.

Progress 6 was launched at 0417 on 13 May into an initial orbit of 193 by 268 km with a period of 88.8 minutes at the nominal 51.6° inclination. Two orbital manoeuvres were completed on 13 May. Three more manoeuvres were scheduled for 14 May on instructions relayed from the land-and sea-based tracking complexes. Gradually the cargo spaceship was brought into the rendezvous mode.

By 0300 on 15 May Lyakhov and Ryumin were already awake to begin preparations for the docking. About an hour later, having had their breakfast and performed their morning exercises, they assumed their positions behind the main control panel of Salyut. At this stage Progress 6 was some 30 km away and catching up fast. Soon the cosmonauts were able to see,on their TV screen, a luminous dot which became momentarily brighter - Progress 6 was firing its thrusters. Within 15 minutes of the first visual sighting the cargo spacecraft had approached to the point where its outlines could be discerned by the crew and the FCC controllers. Beacon signal lights flashed on and off constantly on the space freighter.

With the Protons controlling the orientation of the station and the FCC controlling the approach Progress 6 was commanded to a flawless automatic docking at 0619. The three-spacecraft complex was in an orbit with a height of 326 x 344 km above the Earth. The crew's first task was to check the rigidity of the docking seal in preparation for opening the internal hatches.

Progress 6 delivered over 100 items to the station including the usual supplies of fuel for the ODU; water; equipment for the life support system; air to replace that lost from the station by dockings, venting of debris and operation of the Splav-01 airlock and food prepared to the cosmonauts’ own tastes and preferences. There were also materials for new technological experiments in the Splav-01 and Kristall furnaces; a replacement part for the on-board computer; new lighting equipment for filming and TV broadcasts; a store of electric bulbs; a receiving teleprinter; biological samples, such as a single tulip which, once the crew had put it into their "greenhouse”, was expected to bloom; seeds of pine trees and radishes for use in the biogravistat centrifuge. Some of the items the cosmonauts had personally requested.

FCC advised the crew not to hurry unloading Progress 6. Apparently the crew had unloaded the previous cargo ship ahead of schedule. This time the FCC wanted the crew to adhere strictly to the timetable. As usual the first item unloaded was the personal package containing letters, newspapers and presents.

Specialists noted that unloading items was easier than loading them. Items on the cargo ships are secured so that a half-turn of a special bolt-lock is enough to release even the bulkiest items, but still rigid enough to stay attached during the rigours of launch. Specialists noted that loading used equipment back into the Progress cargo compartment was not simply a case of getting everything packed in but involved the precise distribution of the weight (or more accurately mass) to maintain the correct balance, which aided the controllers when the time came to orient the spacecraft for the destructive re-entry burn.

The standard refuelling operation was controlled exclusively by the FCC. Soviet specialists stressed that the time had not yet arrived when cosmonauts could be allowed complete autonomy in the decision making process of any mission milestone. The Protons’ task therefore, during the refuelling procedure, was the routine and monotonous one of checking the radio transmissions from the FCC and checking the airtightness of the fuelling manifolds, lines and joints. Following the successful transfer of fuel and oxidiser the refuelling lines were purged by a blast of nitrogen to clear out any residual liquids.

A manoeuvre late on 22 May, using the Progress 6 engines,put the complex into a 333 x 352 km x 91.2 minute orbit. This altered the complex’s ground track so that the favourable radio-visibility passes over the USSR ground tracking network occurred during local daylight at those sites. The fact that the orbital groundtrack had precessed, so that the most favourable passes over these sites was during the night, had prompted the FCC to alter the cosmonauts’ working day slightly.

The air pressure on the complex was increased on 27 May from 756 mm to about 800 mm at a rate of 12 mm/hour by pumping from an 80 kg supply aboard Progress 6.

Salyut 6 observers expected Progress 6 to separate from the station on or around 31 May in readiness for the anticipated Soviet/Hungarian flight to begin at the very first opportunity for launch in the June window, 5 June. On 2 June, however, with Progress 6 still attached to the complex came a report from "Hungarian diplomatic sources” that the flight, scheduled for 5 June, had been postponed (according to the Hungarians) because of “serious troubles with the Salyut space station requiring major alterations”. The BBC’s Moscow correspondent, Kevin Ruane, reported that “reliable Moscow sources, whilst confirming the postponement, suggest that Soviet controllers are being extra cautious following the failure of the Soyuz 33 flight.”

That the Soviets intended to continue the Protons’ flight was evidenced by the continued experiments and repair work (the cosmonauts had only recently replaced the control panel of the ’Delta’ navigation system) and orbital corrections two of which, on 4 and 5 June respectively, had placed the Salyut complex into a 358 x 371 km orbit with a period of 91.65 minutes. It was then confidently expected that the Progress cargo ship would leave the complex before the launch of the next manned Soyuz. But the very next day, 6 June, Soyuz 34 was launched, unmanned, from Baikonur beginning the most active phase to date in the Salyut 6 operations.

Preparations for Soyuz 34

Following the failure of Soyuz 33 the top Soviet propulsion unit specialists began analysing the telemetered data from the spacecraft to isolate the fault which had manifested itself to the crew aboard as an engine shutdown 3 seconds into a 6 second burn and abnormally high vibrations in the ship. By 14 May when Rukavishnikov and Ivanov arrived in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, for their “victory tour” the fault had apparently been identified. Bulgarian State President Todor Zhivkov made an oblique reference to the fact when he said that “now (that) the full conditions are known under which (the Soyuz 33 crew) worked in space ... we are still prouder of their accomplishments.’.

Despite tests, and after assessing the condition of the Soyuz 32 ferry in which the Interkosmos crew were to return home (and which had by now been in space for longer than any other Soyuz), the decision was made to postpone any further Interkosmos flight until the next long-term flight. Soyuz 34 was now scheduled to be flown as a test of the uprated propulsion system. FCC controllers were retrained for the automatic docking of Soyuz 34.

Soyuz 34 in Flight

Soyuz 34 was launched at 1813 on 6 June into an initial orbit of 198 x 270 km; 88.9 minute period, 51.6° inclination. Telemetered data from the new propulsion system indicated that it was in order. Late in the evening the unit was fired for the first time and functioned as planned. Four such manoeuvres were planned. The Soviet press, announcing the launch, said that before Soyuz 34 was manoeuvred into an approach trajectory with the Salyut complex Progress 6 would be disconnected and steered away from the complex.

At 0800 on the morning of 8 June Progress 6, loaded with about 150 kg of used equipment, was undocked from the complex, apparently under the complete control of Lyakhov and Ryumin, who also supervised the separation manoeuvre.The systems of Progress 6 were then put into an autonomous flight regime. At 1851 the next day the retro rocket of the cargo ship was activated to send it to destruction in the upper layers of the atmosphere over the Pacific ocean away from the shipping lanes.

Late on the evening of 8 June the orbital correction engine of Soyuz 34 was activated for the fourth and last time. The unmanned spaceship quickly began closing in on the manned complex. About 30 minutes prior to the link-up the Igla navigation system of Soyuz 34 was activated. Salyut was automatically oriented with the rear docking port facing the approaching transport. Soyuz's small manoeuvre engines were activated, often for as little as one-tenth of a second, during the televised link-up which was completed at 2002.

Once again the FCC advised the crew to take their time in unloading the cargoes delivered by Soyuz 34. The crew were not scheduled to open the hatches of the ship until the next day. Following hatch opening, about 1200 on the 9th, the crew raised tins of currant juice inside the Soyuz 34 OM as a sign of joyful housewarming. In a press conference the crew described the docking and said they were looking forward to seeing the tulips (which were in bud) delivered by Soyuz 34 bloom. They had brought a "whiff of summer” to the station,the crew admitted. The crew were to use Soyuz 34 to return to Earth during the next landing window opportunity in late August. There was still one more cargo spaceship to dock with the complex which meant Soyuz 34 had to be redocked to the front docking unit. Soyuz 32 was to be recovered following an automatic re-entry.

In preparation for the automatic recovery the Protons were ordered to transfer some of the results of their work in orbit to the Soyuz 32 descent module. The Soyuz spacecraft has a normal return capacity of about 50 kg of results plus two crew members. Because Soyuz 32 was to descend unmanned specialists at FCC took the opportunity to load into the crew seats several used items from the station for laboratory analysis. Amongst the items to be returned were watches from the central control panel which had operated for 600 hrs instead of the guaranteed 100,defective lamps,vacuum cleaner contents and used filters.

At 0951 on 13 June Soyuz 32 was undocked from the Salyut 6/Soyuz 34 complex. For three circuits of the Earth the spacecraft was monitored by FCC (about 1 orbit longer than normal, indicating the extent of the checking) until, on the 4th revolution after undocking, the retro rockets were fired successfully for over 200 seconds to put the spacecraft into a descent trajectory. The spacecraft’s three components then separated, as normal. All portions of the re-entry appear to have been performed successfully resulting in a soft landing, at 1618, some 295 km north west of Dzezkazgan.

Soyuz 34 Redocking

The next day (14 June) was a normal launch/landing window opportunity and the Soviets took the initiative to round off a week of intense activity with the redocking of Soyuz 34. In the afternoon Lyakhov and Ryumjn transferred to Soyuz 34,sealed themselves in and donned their spacesuits. At 1618 commands were given for Soyuz 34 to separate from Salyut 6. The cosmonauts then withdrew the spacecraft to a distance of about 100 m from the station and activated the search and approach system of the space vehicles. Salyut 6 was then commanded to execute a 180° turn around its longitudinal axis. At this point the automatic docking system was activated. With the Protons monitoring the operation of the Soyuz the transport spaceship was commanded to approach the front docking port of the station where it redocked successfully at 1651. One orbit later the Protons reopened the hatches and floated into the station and "shook hands in a congratulatory expression of joy.”

The pace at which the two major activities occurred indicated that the Soviets were attempting to take the opportunity of launching the second scheduled Intercosmos crew for the window as planned. However, by the time the window closed on 28 June, there had been no reports of preparations for manned launches. That the Soviets intended to fly two Intercosmos crews in the same window is evidenced by the launch, on 28 June, of Progress 7 which, coming on the final day of the window, would have allowed the cosmonauts to restock the Salyut with consumables.

Progress 7

A standard A-2 carrier rocket with the Progress 7 cargo spacecraft as its payload was launched from Baikonur just 26 milliseconds past its nominal launch time of 0925 on 28 June into an orbit of 193 by 270 km with a 51.6° inclination and period of 88.8 minutes. Following standard calculations by the FCC ballistics team to determine the most convenient rendezvous trajectory for the ship to follow Progress 7’s engines were activated to raise the height of the orbit to 275 x 346 km, period 90.6 minutes. At 1118 on 30 June,following the normal sequence of manoeuvres, Progress 7 docked with Salyut 6’s rear docking unit.

Progress 7 carried 1,230 kg of freight bringing the total amount of freight delivered to the Protons to 4,538 kg. Progress 7 carried about 500 kg of fuel for the ODU, over 50 kg of foodstuffs; photographic materials; clothes; equipment for the life support system; new gravity suits; indoor plants and personal mail. New scientific equipment delivered included the KRT-10 radio telescope, Vaporiser and Resistance instruments.

As a special bonus the FCC psychology team had included a book,The Moscow Area by Nikolay Kravets,to remind the crew of the forests,fields and streams they said they were missing. The crew derived great pleasure from such items. They also kept an aware eye on the news and even had a political commentator brief them on the SALT 2 treaty.

As a prelude to the KRT-10 experiments the crew used the spare propellant left over from Progress 7’s “very economical docking” to raise the height of the orbit. The manoeuvre, using Progress 7’s engines,was effected over two days, 3 to 4 July. The first burn, which took place outside of the FCC radio visibility zones, lasted for 114 seconds and the second, over the USSR, lasted for 75 seconds. The resulting 399 x 411 km,92.46 minute orbit was the highest ever for a Salyut station.

It took the Protons about four days to unload the cargo ship sticking to the flight plan. The crew then reloaded the cargo compartment of the Progress with the used equipment. The station was again successfully refuelled and air was once more pumped into Salyut’s compartments.

Passing the Record

At 0242 on 15 July, as they slept, the Protons passed the 139 day 14 hr 48 min flight time duration record set by the Photons and thus became the longest flying space crew. The Soviets made several statements to the effect that breaking the record was not the sole purpose of the flight to Salyut 6 but rather was to increase the scientific return from each flight. The Soviets noted that the Protons had added some new “firsts” to the long list of Salyut 6 achievements. The crew had been the first to:

• perform regular repair and maintenance work in orbit.

• spend so long isolated from other people.

• receive TV pictures from the Earth via an on-board TV set.

Erecting a Radio-Telescope

The Protons’ last month in space was particularly active,although more eventful in the end than FCC would have wished. The events began on 18 July with the deployment of a 10 m diameter wire reflector dish which formed the Cosmic Radio Telescope (KRT-10).

The mechanical and electronic parts qf the instrument were delivered aboard Progress 7 and assembled over a period of days by Lyakhov and Ryumin. For the deployment of the antenna the cosmonauts laid the mast and electronics of the KRT-10 along the axis of the large diameter portion of the working compartment and the dish, which resembled a furled umbrella, along the axis in the Cargo Compartment of Progress 7. The Soviets were not specific about how the mast was connected to the hatch of the Rear Transfer Chamber once the mast was pushed out (clearly the mast could not go through the hatch). The crew noted thankfully that assembly of the instrument was easier in space than had been the case on Earth where gravity had hampered the testing of the construction of the over 300 kg instrument. A similar instrument built to work on the Earth, the Soviets noted, would weigh many tonnes.

At 0350 on 18 July Progress 7 was automatically detached and allowed to drift away from the Salyut station. With FCC watching via TV transmitted from Progress 7 the commands were given to unfurl the antenna. In the words of an observer at the FCC "the familiar outlines of the Salyut station were blotted out by the huge dish of the receiving antenna.”

Over the next few days the cosmonauts were to calibrate the instrument in preparation for the planned series of observations. At 0157 on 20 July, after FCC had conducted tests of its Igla (Needle) mutual search and approach system. Progress 7’s engines were activated and the cargo ship plunged to a destructive re-entry over the Pacific.

Working in conjunction with a 70 metre dish at the Crimea Long-Range Space Communications Centre the cosmonauts carried out a number of important observation with the KRT-10 over the next three weeks.

Because the KRT-10 was in space, at a height of over 400 km, the separation distances between it and the 70 metre dish ranged between 400 to 10,000 km. By means of interferometry this meant that the object to be studied was observed with a radio telescope system with a sensitivity equal to that of a single telescope with a receiver the diameter of the Earth. The ground and space receivers were synchronised with very precise clocks. The KRT-10 was in use every other day probably because of the power consumption levels which required the batteries to be recharged after every day’s work for a day.

In their observation programme the cosmonauts directed the telescope towards the Milky Way, the Sun, pulsar PL 0329 and deep sky sources of radio emission in order to map these sources. In addition radio measurements were made of the Earth to study meterorological phenomena, soil humidity and moisture content, salinity of water and the surface state of the ocean in a manner similar to Seasat.

At the end of the observing programme, on 9 August, the KRT-10 antenna was due to be cast off to allow other spacecraft to use the rear docking assembly. However, during this operation, the structure experienced unplanned vibrations and unfortunately the mesh became entangled on protruding elements on the outside of the station (possibly an antenna or one of the nozzles of the ODU).

The Soviets stressed that the incident was treated calmly by both the crewmen and the FCC officials. After analysing the problem the Flight Controllers recommended that, in order to dislodge the antenna, the Salyut be manoeuvred forward sharply. Analysis of TV pictures returned by the camera above the docking port indicated that this would do the trick. At one stage of the manoeuvre FCC officials thought that the plan had worked but it was soon apparent that it had not. TV pictures showed the dish still attached. The, by now, obvious solution was to allow the cosmonauts to go into open space and manually "unhook” the antenna. Whilst the crew were immediately in agreement with the plan the FCC officials dithered, arguing that such an arduous task so late in the flight might involve some hazards if the crew were too fatigued. It appears that the cosmonauts were due to stand in the opened hatchway of the station and retrieve samples of materials from around the hatch, as the Photons had done, but the extra task worried the controllers. Simulations in the ‘hydrobasin’ at the Yuri Cagarin Training Centre,Zvyodzny Gorodok, proved the task was feasible and that the tools to do the job were on board the station. Finally the mission controllers relented and the necessary instructions were tele-printed up to the crew. By 15 August all was ready.

Protons Above the Planet

After donning their space suits (the same ones worn by the Taymyrs and the Photons) Lyakhov and Ryumin sealed themselves into Salyut’s Forward Transfer Compartment and vented the air. It was Ryumin’s job to open the hatch but almost immediately the Flight Engineer had worrisome news for the controllers: the hatch refused to budge. Ryumin applied more pressure and after a few seconds the recalcitrant hatch swung open. The time was 1416.

Ryumin floated out just in time to witness the grandeur of an orbital sunset. With the EVA already behind time and the station passing through orbital darkness the cosmonauts were instructed to wait for sunrise at the hatchway. Mission rules forbade them to work during periods of orbital night-time outside the ship. The period of night lasted 36 minutes. During this period Lyakhov baulked at using the helmet's light filter in case it froze over. Although the temperature outside of their space suits was in the order of 140° C below zero the suit’s thermal control system kept the crewmen at a comfortable 20° C.

As the station passed out of the Earth’s shadow the cosmonauts were reminded that they were out in space to work. They quickly set about that task. With Lyakhov stationed at the hatch Ryumin, constantly attached to the station via a 20 m long safety line, floated gingerly along the length of the Salyut using the handrails for guidance and support. Arriving at the rear end of the station Ryumin assessed the situation,a task complicated by the fact that the Sun was shining directly into his eyes. At first the task looked difficult but after consulting Lyakhov the Flight Engineer floated down to the part of the antenna which was tangled and smartly cut it free with four quick snips of the pliers he was carrying. Ryumin then imparted velocity to the now free floating antenna (probably by means of his EVA boot) which ensured that the antenna would not return to the vicinity of the station. Visual observations from Southern England some hours later confirmed a wide separation of station and antenna. The operation, carried out outside of the radio-visibility zones, called for all Ryumin’s training and skill.

Moving back to the Transfer Compartment Ryumin inspected the station’s exterior noting that the portholes were covered by a thin layer of dust which he was sure could not be wiped off because the glass had been damaged by the effects of both cosmic rays and micrometeoroids. Ryumin had taken two instruments with him into open space one of which was left attached to the station's exterior and the other returned to the cabin. As Salyut returned into the FCC radio-visibility zone and it was realised that success had been achieved, the control personnel burst into spontaneous applause.

All that remained now was for the cosmonauts to retrieve instruments of the micro-meteoroid detection systems and cassettes containing various construction, optical, thermal protection and polymer materials. One of these cassettes had been attached to the station since its launch on 29 September 1977; the other had been left there by the Photons during their EVA on 31 July 1978.

The cosmonauts then entered the transfer compartment and repressurized it. The EVA had lasted for 1 hour 23 minutes. After removing their suits they entered the major compartment of the station again. The Soviets claim that despite the late start to the EVA the cosmonauts had finished the EVA 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. The crew’s judgement on their ability to perform the complicated operation had been validated. The Flight Controllers were unashamedly delighted with the results and told reporters that the cosmonauts would rest for a few days, complete some final smelting experiments and then return home on or about 20 August.

Birthday Greetings

The next day, 16 August, was Ryumin's 40th birthday. As Lyakhov had done before him, on his 40th birthday on 21 July, Ryumin was allowed a prolonged breakfast during which he received congratulations from friends and relatives. A toast was drunk with fruit juice after which the crewman being féted was treated by FCC to his favourite form of cultural entertainment by radio. In Lyakhov's case this took the form of operettas,in Ryumin’s case audio dramas.

Near the flight’s end the crew gave a short press conference for assembled journalists from the socialist countries in which they described their feelings and the experimental work they were concluding. Lastly, Ryumin thanked the workers for helping to make the flight such a success. “Success inspires one anywhere and this achievement (of almost 6 months in space) has given us fresh strength for further work,” Ryumin noted.

Return to Earth

Early on the morning of 19 August (Aviation Day in the USSR) the cosmonauts loaded their final bits of baggage into Soyuz 34, ate their last meal aboard Salyut 6, closed down the systems and switched off the lights, then closed the internal hatches between the station and the Soyuz ferry that was to deliver them back to the Earth.

After donning their suits and checking the systems of the Soyuz 34 ferry, they reported to the FCC that all was ready for the undocking. FCC radioed a command to the Soyuz 34 autopilot and at about 0908 the Soyuz and Salyut parted.

In the couple of orbits that followed before retrofire the crew were addressed by Vladimir Shatalov and Aleksei Yeliseyev. The cosmonauts were advised that conditions in the recovery area were cloudy with the cloud base at about 1,000 m. The weather was good with visibility more than 20 km and a wind strength of about 5 m per second. Temperature was around 22° C.

Following about 200 seconds of retrofire over the Atlantic Soyuz 34 separated into its three separate compartments. The descent cabin, travelling at a speed of around 8 km/sec,entered the denser layers of the atmosphere and was quickly enveloped in a dark film which covered Ryumin’s window with soot. The temperature outside of the hermetically sealed cabin was in excess of 3,000° C. The cosmonauts were now subject to heavy overloads, their first meeting with gravity for 23 weeks.

Following, the customary radio blackout, and with the cabin in the lower layers of the atmosphere, the cosmonauts re-established communications with tne ground control staff and the recovery forces. They reported that the parachute system was working normally. At this point and up to the moment of touchdown the cabin was transmitting short-wave radio beacon signals to the 11 aircraft and 13 helicopters tracking the descent.

Homing in on the signals from the module the TV helicopter found the cabin still in the air under its 1000 m red and white parachute. Cushioned by retro rockets fired from its base at a height of only 1 metre from the ground, the cabin touched down at 1230 in an area 170 km south east of Dzhezkazgan The Protons’ flight had lasted for 175 days and 36 minutes.

The cosmonauts were soon being carried from the cabin,although Ryumin was obviously fit enough to walk, and were placed into specially designed “lounge chairs” some feet away from the cabin. There the crew were presented with a bunch of flowers each which they gratefully pressed into their faces. Ryumin was clearly in good health and was the more animated of the two.

In a short chat with a newsman the cosmonants said that they were delighted to be home. Ryumin, noting that his body felt twice as heavy as normal, confided that he felt the Earth had given them “a not too friendly welcome!” Lyakhov agreed and stated that it was nice to be able to stamp his feet on the ground again - though with some difficulty!

Two other people glad to see the flight end were the cosmonauts’ wives. Zinaida Lyakhov said that although they had been able to watch their men on TV “sometimes it had been difficult to be alone with two children. But there were always friends to help. Natasha (Ryumin) has been like a sister to me.”

Whilst the Soviet leaders awarded both men the title Hero of the Soviet Union and Order of Lenin and Gold Star medals,the cosmonauts were being airlifted to Dzhezkazgan where they were given the traditional welcome of bread and salt along with sashes of honorary citizens. From there the men were flown to the Hotel Kosmanayt at Baikonur where their post-flight readaptation was to begin.

Salyut Sails on

By 22 August Salyut 6 was orbiting at 384 x 409 km with a period of 90.3 minutes. Konstantin Feoktistov told journalists in mid-September that Soviet specialists were checking the state of the station to decide on future flights. He forecast that the time was not far distant when whole teams and scientific laboratories would be working permanently in orbit.