37KB Credit - © Mark Wade

Development of a new kind of Soviet space station module, designated 37K, was authorized on 17 September 1979. The basic 37K design consisted of a 4.2 m diameter pressurized cylinder with a docking port at the forward end. It was not equipped with its own propulsion system. The original authorization was for a total of eight 37K's of various configurations:

• Three 37KB modules. These would be carried in the payload bay of the Buran space shuttle. They could remain attached to the bay or (modified to the 37KBI configuration) be docked to the Mir or Mir-2 space stations using the Buran manipulator arm.

• One experimental 37KE (using a surplus FGB module of the cancelled Chelomei TKS manned ferry as a tug) which would be docked to the front port of the Salyut 7 space station.
• Four 37KS modules for Mir. These would be delivered and docked to the station by a new lighter weight FGO tug.

Three 37KB modules were built - two flight articles and a spare. Following the initial flight tests using the 37KB, it was planned that s/n 37271 and the flight spare would be converted to the 37KBI configuration, which could be docked to the Mir and Mir-2 stations. In 1989 the planned utilization of the 37KB modules for Buran was as follows:

• Flight 2 (2K1) - fourth quarter 1991 - first flight of second orbiter, one to two days unmanned, with 37KB s/n 37071.

• Flight 3 (2K2) - first or second quarter 1992 - second orbiter, seven to eight day unmanned flight with payload 37KB s/n 37271. The orbiter would open the payload bay doors, operate the manipulator arm, dock with Mir, and return to earth.

• Flight 4 (1K2) - 1993 - unmanned, second flight of first orbiter, 15-20 days with 37KB s/n 37270

• Flight 5 (3K1) - 1994 or 1995 - first flight of third orbiter. First manned flight; the third orbiter was the first outfitted with life support systems and ejection seats. Two cosmonauts would deliver the 37KBI module to Mir, using the Buran manipulator arm to dock it to the station's Kristal module.

External events were catching up with these projects - the economy and political system in the Soviet Union had begun its rapid disintegration. The ambitious plans for a Mir-2 space station were being downgraded constantly. By the autumn 1991 it was proposed that a 'Mir 1.5' station would be equipped with 37KB modules, delivered by Buran, in place of the huge modules previously envisioned. Under this plan, the DOS-8 Mir base block would be orbited in 1994, towed to Mir by Buran, and attached to the DOS-7 base block already in orbit since 1986. During the two year period of joint operation of both base blocks, Mir would deliver an experimental 37KBT module equipped with biotechnology experiments. DOS-7 would then be deorbited, beginning the start of a four year assembly process of the Mir-2 station. DOS-8 would be equipped by Buran with 37KBE power modules and two operational 37KBT biotechnology modules. Buran could swap the 37KBT modules and return them to earth for removal of the products produced and outfitting for reuse.

Work on the 37KB modules was finally stopped completely when further Buran funding was ended in 1993.

Length: 5.10 m (16.70 ft). Maximum Diameter: 4.15 m (13.61 ft). Span: 4.10 m (13.40 ft). Habitable Volume: 37.00 m3. Mass: 7,150 kg (15,760 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Energia.

• 1979 September 17 - 37K space station module authorised -

  The basic 37K design consisted of a 4.2 m diameter pressurised cylinder with a docking port at the forward end. It was not equipped with its own propulsion system. The original authorisation was for a total of eight 37K's of various configurations. Of these, only the 37K-E (Kvant module of Mir) and the 37KS (instrumentation module in Buran) would fly.

• 1988 November 15 - 37KB module s/n 37070 - Program: Buran. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Energia. Mass: 7,150 kg (15,760 lb).