Soyuz ASTP in Orbit Credit - NASA Media Gallery

The Soyuz 7K-T as modified for the docking with Apollo. The spacecraft included some systems developed for the cancelled Soyuz S, including a new launch escape tower. Other changes included new lightweight solar panels to increase endurance; an androgynous universal docking mechanism in place of standard Soyuz male mechanism; unique radio aerials for common communications; optical docking targets for manual docking with Apollo; and modifications to the environmental control system to lower the cabin pressure to 0.68 atmospheres prior to docking with Apollo..

Crew Size: 2. Design Life: 7 days. Orbital Storage: 7.00 days. Typical orbit: 228 km circular orbit, 51.7 deg inclination. Length: 7.48 m (24.54 ft). Maximum Diameter: 8.92 m (29.27 ft). Span: 8.37 m (27.46 ft). Habitable Volume: 9.00 m3. Mass: 6,680 kg (14,720 lb). Main Engine Thrust: 4.089 kN (919 lbf). Main Engine Propellants: Nitric Acid/Hydrazine. Main Engine Propellants: 500 kg (1,100 lb). Main Engine Isp: 282 sec. Spacecraft delta v: 215 m/s (705 ft/sec). Electrical System: Solar panels span 8.37 m, area: 8.33 sq. m. Electric System: 0.50 average kW. Electric System: 8.00 kWh. Associated Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U.

• Soyuz ASTP BO.  Other Designations: Bytovoy otsek. Part of: Soyuz 7K-TM. Class: Manned. Type: Spacecraft Module. Purpose: Living section.

  Universal docking system designed for ASTP with three petaled locating system and internal transfer tunnel (Collar Length: 0.33 m. Petal Length: 0.39 m. Base Diameter: 1.3 m. Ring Diameter: 1.2 m). No automated rendezvous and docking system (Apollo performed active docking). Four windows, BO separated after retrofire.

  Length: 3.10 m (10.10 ft). Basic Diameter: 2.26 m (7.41 ft). Maximum Diameter: 2.26 m (7.41 ft). Habitable Volume: 5.00 m3. Mass: 1,224 kg (2,698 lb). Structure Mass: 700 kg (1,540 lb). Recovery Equipment: 324 kg (714 lb). Electrical Equipment: 50 kg (110 lb). Communications Systems: 50 kg (110 lb). Crew Seats and Provisions: 100 kg (220 lb). Electrical System: Batteries. Battery: 10,500.00 Ah.

• Soyuz ASTP SA.  Other Designations: Spuskaemiy apparat. Part of: Soyuz 7K-TM. Class: Manned. Type: Spacecraft Module. Purpose: Reentry capsule.

  Post-Soyuz 11 modification for crew of two in spacesuits. Analogue sequencer and computers operate spacecraft. Off-line periscopes, no covers on portholes, standard touchdown rockets, and improved parachute. Telemetry: Low rate + one voice, modified for radio communications with Apollo and U.S. ground stations.

  Crew Size: 2. Length: 2.24 m (7.34 ft). Basic Diameter: 2.17 m (7.11 ft). Maximum Diameter: 2.17 m (7.11 ft). Habitable Volume: 4.00 m3. Mass: 2,802 kg (6,177 lb). Structure Mass: 1,233 kg (2,718 lb). Heat Shield Mass: 300 kg (660 lb). Reaction Control System: 100 kg (220 lb). Recovery Equipment: 370 kg (810 lb). Navigation Equipment: 80 kg (176 lb). Telemetry Equipment: 50 kg (110 lb). Electrical Equipment: 150 kg (330 lb). Communications Systems: 30 kg (66 lb). Crew Seats and Provisions: 100 kg (220 lb). Crew mass: 144 kg (317 lb). Miscellaneous Contingency: 50 kg (110 lb). Environmental Control System: 150 kg (330 lb). RCS Coarse No x Thrust: 6 X 98 N. RCS Propellants: H2O2. Expr24: 40. Main Engine Propellants: 45 kg (99 lb).

• Soyuz ASTP PAO.  Other Designations: Priborno-agregatniy otsek. Part of: Soyuz 7K-TM. Class: Manned. Type: Spacecraft Module. Purpose: Equipment-engine section.

  Soyuz 7K-OK basic PAO service module with pump-fed main engines and separate RCS/main engine propellant feed system.

  Length: 2.26 m (7.41 ft). Basic Diameter: 2.15 m (7.05 ft). Maximum Diameter: 2.15 m (7.05 ft). Mass: 2,654 kg (5,851 lb). Structure Mass: 974 kg (2,147 lb). Reaction Control System: 250 kg (550 lb). Navigation Equipment: 30 kg (66 lb). Telemetry Equipment: 50 kg (110 lb). Electrical Equipment: 500 kg (1,100 lb). RCS Coarse No x Thrust: 14 X 98 N. RCS Fine No x Thrust: 4 X 98 N. RCS Coarse Backup No x Thrust: 8 x 10 N. RCS Fine Backup No x Thrust: 4 x 10 N roll. RCS Propellants: H2O2. Main Engine: KTDU-35. Main Engine: 350 kg (770 lb). Main Engine Thrust: 4.089 kN (919 lbf). Main Engine Propellants: Nitric Acid/Hydrazine. Main Engine Propellants: 500 kg (1,100 lb). Main Engine Isp: 282 sec. Spacecraft delta v: 215 m/s (705 ft/sec). Electrical System: Solar panels span 8.37 m, area: 8.33 sq. m. Electric System: 0.50 average kW. Electric System: 8.00 kWh.

• 1970 October 14 - Contacts on join USA/USSR docking system. - Program: ASTP.

  Communist Party Meeting at the cosmonaut centre. Keldysh calls later. Six specialists are to be sent to the United States to discuss design of a common USA/USSR docking system. Kamanin yet again goes through the correct answers and prepared speeches to be given to the press by Nikolayev and Sevastyanov on their visit to West Germany.

• 1972 January 1 - TsKBEM reorganised - Program: Lunar L3, Soyuz, Almaz. Launch Vehicle: N1, RT-2.

  TsKBEM was given a completely new structure as a result of the findings of the expert commissions on the disasters for the previous year, Mishin remained as the Chief Designer for the organisation, but each programme now had its own chief designer:

  • N1: Boris Dorofeyev
  • 8K98P solid propellant ICBM: Igor Sadovskiy
  • N1 payloads: Vladimir Brorov [check]
  • Soyuz 7K-TM, or Soyuz M, for Soyuz-Apollo: Konstantin Bushuyev
  • Soyuz 7K-T: Yuri Semenov
  • Soyuz 7K-S or Soyuz VI: Yevgeni Shabarov
  Additional Details: TsKBEM reorganised (51203).

• 1974 April 3 - Cosmos 638 - Program: ASTP. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Mass: 6,570 kg (14,480 lb). Perigee: 187 km (116 mi). Apogee: 309 km (192 mi). Inclination: 51.80 deg. Period: 89.40 min. Duration: 9.89 days.

  Unmanned Soyuz test flight. Recovered April 13, 1974 5:05 GMT. Soyuz ASTP Test.
  Maneuver Summary:
  190km X 309km orbit to 190km X 266km orbit. Delta V: 12 m/s
  190km X 266km orbit to 240km X 300km orbit. Delta V: 23 m/s
  240km X 300km orbit to 258km X 274km orbit. Delta V: 12 m/s
  Total Delta V: 47 m/s.
  Officially: Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space.

• 1974 August 12 - Cosmos 672 - Program: ASTP. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Mass: 6,570 kg (14,480 lb). Perigee: 222 km (137 mi). Apogee: 226 km (140 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 88.90 min. Duration: 5.94 days.

  ASTP precursor. Recovered August 18, 1974 5:02 GMT. Soyuz ASTP test.
  Maneuver Summary:
  195km X 305km orbit to 195km X 221km orbit. Delta V: 24 m/s
  195km X 221km orbit to 223km X 223km orbit. Delta V: 8 m/s
  231km X 231km orbit to 231km X 231km orbit. Delta V: 1 m/s
  223km X 223km orbit to 231km X 231km orbit. Delta V: 4 m/s
  231km X 231km orbit to 227km X 237km orbit. Delta V: 2 m/s
  Total Delta V: 39 m/s.
  Officially: Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space.

• 1974 December 2 - Soyuz 16 - Program: ASTP. Crew: Filipchenko, Rukavishnikov. Flight: Soyuz 16. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Mass: 6,800 kg (14,900 lb). Perigee: 184 km (114 mi). Apogee: 291 km (180 mi). Inclination: 51.80 deg. Period: 89.20 min. Duration: 5.93 days.

  ASTP Manned Test Flight. Check-out of the Soyuz space craft's on-board systems which had been modernized to meet the requirements of the 1975 joint flight in accordance with the programme of the Soviet-United States experiment; conduct of scientific and technical investigations.

• 1975 July 15 - Soyuz 19 (ASTP) - Program: ASTP. Crew: Kubasov, Leonov. Flight: Soyuz 19 (ASTP), Apollo (ASTP). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Mass: 6,790 kg (14,960 lb). Perigee: 186 km (115 mi). Apogee: 220 km (130 mi). Inclination: 51.80 deg. Period: 88.50 min. Duration: 5.94 days.

  Soyuz 19 initial orbital parameters were 220.8 by 185.07 kilometres, at the desired inclination of 51.80°, while the period of the first orbit was 88.6 minutes. On 17 July the two spacecraft docked. The crew members rotated between the two spacecraft and conducted various mainly ceremonial activities. Leonov was on the American side for 5 hours, 43 minutes, while Kubasov spent 4:57 in the command and docking modules.

  After being docked for nearly 44 hours, Apollo and Soyuz parted for the first time and were station-keeping at a range of 50 meters. The Apollo crew placed its craft between Soyuz and the sun so that the diameter of the service module formed a disk which blocked out the sun. After this experiment Apollo moved towards Soyuz for the second docking.

  Three hours later Apollo and Soyuz undocked for the second and final time. The spacecraft moved to a 40 m station-keeping distance so that an ultraviolet absorption experiment could be performed. With all the joint flight activities completed, the ships went on their separate ways.

• Oberg, James, Red Star in Orbit, Random House, New York, 1981. ISBN: 0394514297. Oberg's book was, at its time, the most accurate, and still the most lively account of the Soviet manned program. More at amazon.com...

• Chertok, Boris Yevseyevich, Raketi i lyudi, Mashinostroenie, Moscow, 1994-1999.. ISBN: 5217024976. Russian language autobiography in four volumes of one of Korolev's chief assistants. NASA is in the process of translating the work - the pdf is for the first volume only, up to WW2. Accessed at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20050010181_2005010059.pdf. -right click to download pdfs! More at amazon.com...

• Kamanin, N P, Skritiy kosmos, Infortext, Moscow, 1995. The diary of the Commander of the Soviet Cosmonaut Team in the 1960's - a source of great insights into the space program. Four volumes issued to date.

• USAF Satellite Database, USAF Institute of Technology, 1995. Accessed at: ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/.

• McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.

• JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Accessed at: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.

• Semenov, Yuri P Editor, Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya 'Energia' imeni S P Koroleva, Moscow, Russia, 1996. Russian in-house history of the Energia Corporation and its predecessors. Unprecedented detail, photographs, designations, and drawings, on the products of Korolev's OKB.

• Clark, Philip, The Soviet Manned Space Program, Salamander Books, London, 1988. ISBN: 051756954X. By far the best account of the Soviet manned program, though now out of date due to the flood of revelations since Glasnost and the end of the cold war. More at amazon.com...

• Furniss, Tim, Manned Spaceflight Log, Jane's, London, 1986. ISBN: 0710604025. Summary of all manned spaceflights up to 1986. Pre-Glasnost, so many 'war stories' of Soviet manned spaceflight are not included. More at amazon.com...

• Turnill, Reginald,, The Observer's Spaceflight Directory, Frederick Warne, London, 1978. ISBN: 0723220514. Good miniature encyclopaedia of space programs just before the shuttle started flying. More at amazon.com...

• Semenov, Yu. P., S P Korolev Space Corporation Energia, RKK Energia, 1994. ISBN: 1896522815. Dual English/Russian language picture book of the history of the Energia Corporation. Many unique photos and drawings of Korolev's rockets and spacecraft. Republished by Apogee books in 2000. More at amazon.com...

• Aviation Week and Space Technology, "Fuel, Sensors Limit Soyuz Maneuvering", 1974-01-28, page 36.

• Aviation Week and Space Technology, "Soyuz Design Details Revealed", 1974-01-21, page 38.

• Aviation Week and Space Technology, "Docked Soyuz Spacecrft Are Displayed in Moscow", 1970-05-18, page 66.

• Ezell, Edward Clinton and Ezell, Linda Neuman, The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, NASA History Series SP-4209, 1978. NASA official history of the first international manned space project.

• Aviation Week and Space Technology, "Soyuz Spacecraft Shown by Soviets at Japan's Expo 70", 1970-07-25, page 55.