Salyut Two, Three and Five Details

Introduction

Salyut 2, 3, 5 drawing — Almaz Station (Credit: Anatoly Zak)

Salyut Two, Three and Five were soviet Almaz military space stations for Earth observation and photography.

Salyut Two reached orbit but soon failed to maintain it. It was lost before accommodating any crew. Salyut Three only had one successful crewed mission and Salyut Five had two. It was then decided to concentrate on the civilian stations and integrate military operations with them.

Reference: Wikipedia - Salyut 2, | Salyut 3, | Salyut 5

Almaz

The Almaz space stations' cores were known internally as OPS "Orbital Piloted Station".

As part of the Almaz program, the Soviets developed several spacecraft for support roles to be used in several combinations:

Orbital Piloted Station (OPS) module, forming the space station itself,
Functional Cargo Block (FGB), intended as resupply craft for the stations and
VA spacecraft, intended as launch and return vehicle for the crews.

Originally the Almaz-OPS space station was intended to be launched mated with a VA return capsule containing its initial three man crew. Once in orbit the crew would access the lab through a hatch in the heat shield at the bottom of the VA capsule. After an extended stay of 30 to 60 days the crew would return to Earth by way of a VA return vehicle.

Reference: Wikipedia - Almaz-OPS

Almaz Station with VA Spacecraft [Click image to enlarge]

The Almaz was designed to be re-supplied and have multiple crews in rotation. The newly designed TKS resupply craft, which consisted of an FGB and a VA return craft for the crew, was to be launched together on a Proton rocket. At the station, one docking port would be available to receive the TKS craft once the previous crew had left the station in their VA capsule.

The three Almaz stations were launched without the VA spacecraft as it was not ready in time. The crew instead launched separately by Soyuz rocket in a modified Soyuz spacecraft. The initial intention of launching Almaz with its crew in VA spacecraft did not proceed and also the TKS craft was not used as re-supply craft. The Almaz design, without VA spacecraft, however evolved into the Almaz OPS station cores of the civilian Salyut programme.

Cannon

In addition to reconnaissance equipment, Almaz was equipped with a unique 23mm Rikhter rapid-fire cannon mounted on the forward belly of the station. This revolver cannon was modified from the tail-gun of the Tu-22 bomber and was capable of a theoretical rate of fire of 1800-2000 rounds per minute. Each projectile flew at a speed of 850 m/s relative to the station. To aim the cannon, which was on a fixed mounting, the entire station would be turned to face the target. The cannon was tested at the end of the Salyut 3 mission by firing 20 rounds, when the station was un-crewed due to concerns over excessive vibration and noise. The Almaz series are the only known armed, crewed military spacecraft ever flown.

Specifications

Length: 14.6 m
Diameter: 4.2 m
Habitable volume: 90 m3
Mass at Launch: 18,900 kg
Solar Arrays: 2
Docking Ports: 1

Missions and Statistics

The table below gives a summary of the missions to the Salyut / Almaz stations, including some basic Statistics.

All Salyut modules and spacecraft were launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome with an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees.

Salyut

Launch

Re-Entry

Spacecraft

ℹ

Transport crews and cargo to and from the station

Crew
No.

ℹ

Number of crew on mission

Carrier
Rocket

ℹ

Launch vehicle used to carry station or craft to orbit.

Duration
(Days)

ℹ

Number of days in orbit

Perigee
(km)

ℹ

Lowest orbital altitude

Apogee
(km)

ℹ

Highest orbital altitude

Orbit
(Mins.)

ℹ

Time taken to orbit the Earth.

Mission Notes

ℹ

General notes on the mission

No.

I.D.

Year

Date

Year

Date

Two	OPS 1	1973	Apr 4	1973	May 28	Station Module		Proton-K	54	257	278	89.8	First military station. Failed after launch. No crews.
Three	OPS 2	1974	Jun 25	1975	Jan 24	Station Module		Proton-K	213	200	222	88.5	Second military station.
			Jul 3	1974	Jul 19	Soyuz 14	2	Soyuz 11A511	16	250	277	89.7	Only crew to occupy Salyut 3.
			Aug 26	1974	Aug 28	Soyuz 15	2	Soyuz 11A511	0	254	275	89.6	Soyuz 15 failed to dock and returned to Earth.
Five	OPS 3	1976	Jun 22	1976	Jun 22	Station Module		Proton-K	412	223	269	89	Last military station.
			Jul 6		Aug 24	Soyuz 21	2	Soyuz 11A511	50	193	253	88.7	Military and scientific objectives.
			Oct 14		Oct 16	Soyuz 23	2	Soyuz 11A511	0	243	275	89.5	Reached station but failed to dock. Mission aborted.
		1977	Feb 7	1977	Feb 25	Soyuz 24	2	Soyuz U	18	185	346	89.5	Final mission to a military station.