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Short Description
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Almaz History
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The changing configurations of the Almaz military space station throughout its long year history. The planned TKS ferry was replaced by the Soyuz from 1966 to 1970. From 1970 on Soyuz would be used for Phase 1 flights while the TKS would be used for Phase 2 flights.
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almazhis.jpg
480 x 274
23.7 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz History
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Almaz Shchit-2 Gun
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The single-barrel gun fitted ventrally to the Almaz OPS-4 station.
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almazgu2.jpg
407 x 189
14.2 kb
Credit:
Dave Anderman
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Almaz Shchit-2 Gun
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Almaz forward view
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Forward view of Almaz space station - original configuration, Note crew couches in cutaway view of VA re-entry capsule interior. The Almaz was actually flown without the VA. Also note the orientation engines just below the VA attachment collar.
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almazdh1.jpg
541 x 328
27.1 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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Almaz forward view
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Almaz interior
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Close-up view of interior of Almaz space station. Note large white film cassettes of reconnaissance camera, and cosmonaut at the control station of the camera systems.
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almazdh3.jpg
594 x 334
33.1 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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Almaz interior
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Rear view of Almaz
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Rear view of Almaz model. Note the two manoeuvring engines flanking the docking collar, the stowed solar panels, and the guides for aft interstage separation
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almazdh4.jpg
391 x 486
34.7 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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Rear view of Almaz
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Almaz Original
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Almaz - Early configuration with VA return capsule.
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almazjor.jpg
608 x 343
32.9 kb
Credit:
© Reginaldo Miranda
Jr
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Almaz Original
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TKS model
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TKS model. From left to right note launch escape system, VA re-entry capsule, main body with longitudinal fuel tanks and stowed solar arrays, docking system and EVA hand rails at base.
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tksdh1.jpg
608 x 204
30.3 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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TKS model
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TKS model
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TKS model. Close-up of docking system at base.
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tksdh2.jpg
285 x 322
20.7 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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TKS model
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Almaz
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Forward view of Almaz space station - original configuration. From left to right note stowed solar panels, sunshade for Agat reconnaissance camera extending below first station compartment, VA re-entry capsule and its launch escape rocket.
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almazdh2.jpg
350 x 105
10.4 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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Almaz
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TKS model
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TKS model. Close-up of main manoeuvre engines (in triangular housings top and bottom) and reaction control system engine cluster.
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tksdh3.jpg
244 x 457
22.7 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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TKS model
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Salyut 3 in Shop
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Salyut 3 in the shop before launch. Red plastic covers can be seen over the engine nozzles of the station orientation engines in the forward fuselage. The white fairing contains either the deployable whip antennae shown in drawings of the station or a primitive SLAR. The white fairing on the side is part of the cradle holding the station.
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sal3shop.jpg
350 x 199
28.3 kb
Credit:
via Dietrich Haeseler
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Salyut 3 in Shop
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Almaz-1
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The Almaz station as flown during Phase 1 of the programme (Salyut 3 and 5).
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almaz1.jpg
608 x 391
35.1 kb
Credit:
Khrunichev
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Almaz-1
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Almaz model
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Model of Almaz station as flown in Phase 1 at the Chelomei Bureau.
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almazas.jpg
334 x 376
21.9 kb
Credit:
Andy Salmon
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Almaz model
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Salyut 3 on Pad
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The Salyut 3 station is protected with silver insulation blankets, which will be removed before launch. The large housing containing either the deployable whip antennae or the primitive SLAR is visible on the small-diameter section.
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sal3pad1.jpg
223 x 600
35.4 kb
Credit:
via Dietrich Haeseler
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Salyut 3 on Pad
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Salyut 3 on Pad
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The Salyut 3 station is protected with silver insulation blankets, which will be removed before launch. The large housing containing either the deployable whip antennae or the primitive SLAR is visible on the small-diameter section.
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sal3pad2.jpg
257 x 600
55.4 kb
Credit:
via Dietrich Haeseler
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Salyut 3 on Pad
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Almaz cutaway
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The Almaz military station was first successfully launched into space as Salyut 3 in June 1974. The one meter diameter 'Agat' telescope could photograph airfields and missile complexes. There were also infrared and topographical cameras. A Nudelman cannon provided an active defence system in the event of an attack by an Apollo spacecraft. The Soviet military, based on the results of the Salyut 3 and 5 Almaz flights, lost interest in manned military space stations.
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almazcut.jpg
470 x 260
28.9 kb
Credit:
Videokosmos
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Almaz cutaway
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Almaz 3
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Rare drawing of Salyut 3 Almaz space station. From left to right, docking port surrounded by manoeuvre engines and solar panels; main station body; forward ring with orientation engines.
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salyut3.jpg
320 x 182
12.1 kb
Credit:
Dmitry Pieson
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Almaz 3
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Almaz
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Almaz - configuration as flown on Salyut 3 / Salyut 5.
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almazjz2.jpg
553 x 324
30.1 kb
Credit:
© Reginaldo Miranda
Jr
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Almaz
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Almaz - Soyuz
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Almaz - configuration as flown on Salyut 3 / Salyut 5 with Soyuz ferry craft.
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almazso2.jpg
593 x 356
38.6 kb
Credit:
© Reginaldo Miranda
Jr
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Almaz - Soyuz
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Almaz right exterior
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Aft view of the Almaz, showing the propellant tanks and the '11F668' article number on its side. While this number was used for Almaz-T radar satellites, this station, stored at MAI, has the internal systems of the Phase 1 Almaz. It may have been the s/n 100 ground simulator converted to an Almaz-T mock-up.
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almrext.jpg
350 x 333
37.7 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz right exterior
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Almaz right exterior
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Aft view of the Almaz, showing the airlock, ringed by propellant tanks. The KSI capsule ejection airlock juts out below the main docking hatch. A red plastic cover is seen over the engine bell of one of the two RD-0225 main engines. The downlink antenna of the Grafit communications system is on the lower left.
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almrexta.jpg
350 x 253
30.4 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz right exterior
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Almaz forward hatch
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Forward view of the Almaz. In the original design, the forward tunnel would have led to the aft hatch of the VA crew return capsule. The station was flown without this capsule, a Soyuz being used to shuttle them to the station and back to earth. In the OPS-2 design this hatch led to a forward airlock, with a second docking collar for either TKS or Soyuz ferries.
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almfexta.jpg
239 x 350
27.5 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz forward hatch
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Almaz airlock
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Side view of Almaz showing transition section globular air lock, with the KSI capsule airlock jutting out at an angle below, while the EVA tunnel extends at an angle to the top.
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almrextb.jpg
398 x 570
81.8 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz airlock
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Almaz forward hatch
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Almaz transition section airlock, with the female docking cone for use with the Soyuz or TKS. At the bottom is the KSI airlock, used to jettison small capsules to return film to earth during the flight. The EVA hatch for spacewalks was located on the ceiling, out of sight.
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alfhatch.jpg
571 x 394
43.3 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz forward hatch
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Almaz right hatch
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Almaz forward tunnel. In the original design this led to the hatch in the heat shield of the VA crew return capsule.
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alrhatch.jpg
574 x 397
64.5 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz right hatch
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Almaz EVA panel
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The Almaz space station’s instrument panel in the small diameter section for controlling and observing extra-vehicular activity. A television monitor of the Albatros system provides views of the exterior of the station. This was mounted on the opposite wall across from the main control station.
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alpanel1.jpg
574 x 247
30.7 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz EVA panel
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Almaz camera station
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The crew station for the reconnaissance cameras of the Almaz military space station. The eyepiece of the Sokol-1 PKO Circular Observing Periscope is at top, followed by the enormous 340 cm diameter view plate of the POU-11 Panoramic Survey Unit. The operator is looking into the sight of the OD-5 Telescope Optical System. Hand controls for pointing of the cameras and triggering of the cameras are at either side of the OD-5 sight. The panel to the left of the POU-11 display contains typical Soyuz instrumentation: clock, earth globe instrument showing current station position, displays of the Igla docking system, and a multipurpose television monitor of the Albatros external television system. To the operator's left are panels of the BIPS On-board Information Distribution System.
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alpanel2.jpg
575 x 399
70.9 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz camera station
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Almaz main console
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The main console for operating the Almaz space station, placed to the left of the camera operation console. The familiar instruments found in Soyuz and the civilian Salyut space stations are all present - clockwise from upper left: The Albatros combined video / radar display for rendezvous and docking, and on Almaz, for external views of the station; the clock; the earth globe instrument for displaying position over the earth; the controls for calling up automatic spacecraft command sequences.
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alpanel3.jpg
570 x 395
78.4 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz main console
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Almaz main console
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Close-up of the main console for operating the station, with the familiar Soyuz-type globe, clock, and external television/radar scope instruments.
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alpanel5.jpg
574 x 402
76.6 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz main console
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Almaz comm panel
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Communications console of the BIPS On-board Information Distribution System of the Almaz, including keyboard. This was mounted to the left of the main space station control console, and allowed encrypted teletype communications with the earth as well as burst update of plans and procedures from the ground.
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alpanel6.jpg
577 x 337
68.1 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz comm panel
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RD-0225 Almaz engine
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RD-0225 main propulsion engine for Almaz space station
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rd0225.jpg
163 x 365
14.6 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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RD-0225 Almaz engine
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Almaz station engine
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Almaz station orientation engine.
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rdalmk2.jpg
175 x 314
13.8 kb
Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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Almaz station engine
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Almaz
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An Almaz station being prepared for flight at the Khrunichev Factory in Moscow.
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almaz.jpg
273 x 265
19.3 kb
Credit:
Khrunichev
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Almaz
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Almaz with Gun
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Unique photograph of the ventral single-barrel gun mounting no the Almaz (the brown-wrapped assembly at the lower left of the image). This mixed-configuration full-scale article seems to be equipped with mock-ups of the SLAR antenna of phase 2 Almaz but without the forward docking port for Soyuz/TKS operations.
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almazgun.jpg
350 x 219
24.0 kb
Credit:
Dave Anderman
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Almaz with Gun
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Almaz forward panel
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Another Almaz control station, located in the station forward of the camera. Purpose unknown.
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alpanel4.jpg
570 x 398
54.9 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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Almaz forward panel
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Almaz-T
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almaztin.jpg
350 x 262
19.6 kb
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Almaz-T
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TKS capsule hatch
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The crew of the TKS went from the descent capsule to the main spacecraft cabin through this hatch in the heat shield of the capsule. The central crew couch folded up to give access to the hatch. A similar arrangement was to be used in Gemini B for the USAF MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory).
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merkhatb.jpg
568 x 397
82.3 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS capsule hatch
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TKS VA Test
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Configuration of the 82LB72 LVI dual-VA capsule test configuration. Externally the test configuration was identical with an all-up TKS ferry. The second VA, housed within the fairing, had no launch escape system and could not be rescued in the case of a launch vehicle failure.
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tksdubl1.jpg
350 x 210
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TKS VA Test
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TKS VA interior
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TKS VA interior - Chelomei School, Leninsk
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vaintch.jpg
575 x 400
68.2 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS VA interior
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TKS capsule interior
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Left control panel of the descent capsule of the TKS spacecraft. The TKS crew instruments were assembled from the same building blocks as those used in the Soyuz series of spacecraft. The standard clock, used since Vostok, is in the top middle of the panel. The large central panel was used to call up sequences of automated spacecraft procedures.
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merkintl.jpg
574 x 395
67.4 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS capsule interior
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TKS
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TKS manned space station ferry.
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tksdwg.jpg
608 x 189
14.3 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS
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UR-530/Almaz
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In the first half of the 1970's, in competition with Glushko's POS orbital station and RLA series of rockets, Chelomei proposed launch of a 30 tonne version of Almaz into sun synchronous orbit using an upgraded UR-530 launch vehicle. Model of Almaz with VA capsule and escape tower atop the UR-530 at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, September 1994
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ur5xxalm.jpg
86 x 350
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Credit:
© Dietrich Haeseler
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UR-530/Almaz
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TKS BSO
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The BSO (Bloka Skhoda s Orbiti - Deorbit Block) mounted on top of the VA capsule weighed 450 kg and allowed the capsule to manoeuvre and orient itself after separation from the FGB for retrofire and return to the earth.
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merkdet1.jpg
197 x 424
24.7 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS BSO
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TKS capsule exterior
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The landing capsule of the three crew military TKS transport/resupply spacecraft for the Almaz space station. Called ‘our Apollo’ by cosmonaut Leonov. After separation of the capsule from the Almaz the retrorocket assembly at top deorbited the capsule. TKS capsules (VA is the Russian acronym) flew 13 times between 1976 and 1983, ten times in capsule tests, three times as part of complete TKS spacecraft which docked with Salyut space stations. They were never flown manned.
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merkext.jpg
397 x 566
43.3 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS capsule exterior
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TKS capsule interior
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At the junction of the left and right instrument panels of the TKS was a Vzor optical device, as used in Vostok and Soyuz. The Vzor allowed the crew to line up the spacecraft for retrofire and return to earth even if all other spacecraft systems failed.
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merkintb.jpg
571 x 399
50.4 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS capsule interior
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TKS capsule interior
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The right control panel of the TKS. The earth globe instrument, also used in Vostok, Salyut, Almaz, and Soyuz, showed the crew at all times their position over the earth. It also allowed them to determine their landing site in the case of a manual re-entry or loss of communications with the ground.
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merkintr.jpg
350 x 243
22.8 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS capsule interior
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TKS VA capsule
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The landing capsule of the three crew military TKS transport/resupply spacecraft for the Almaz space station. Called ‘our Apollo’ by cosmonaut Leonov. After separation of the capsule from the Almaz the retrorocket assembly at top deorbited the capsule. TKS capsules (VA is the Russian acronym) flew 13 times between 1976 and 1983, ten times in capsule tests, three times as part of complete TKS spacecraft which docked with Salyut space stations. They were never flown manned.
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tksvamai.jpg
394 x 579
41.4 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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TKS VA capsule
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TKS capsule
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TKS capsule at Khrunichev factory.
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merkurkh.jpg
220 x 330
18.5 kb
Credit:
Khrunichev
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TKS capsule
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37K Comparison
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Competing concepts for Mir space station modules. From top: Chelomei's TKS module from Almaz, consisting of the FGB tug, VA re-entry capsule, and abort rocket; 37K Kvant laboratory module, with FGB tug as used to dock with aft port of Mir; 37K Kvant laboratory after docking; NPO Energia design for follow-on 37K modules (cancelled); FGB-derived modules actually used.
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37kcomps.jpg
264 x 480
22.5 kb
Credit:
© Mark Wade
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37K Comparison
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Cos1663D
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TKS - Cosmos 1663 Configuration. The recovery systems of the VA capsule were replaced with military space sensors.
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cos1663d.jpg
608 x 280
27.6 kb
Credit:
© Reginaldo Miranda
Jr
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Cos1663D
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Kosmos 1267/Salyut 7
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Kosmos 1267 / Salyut 7. This detailed painting was the first revelation in the West of the configuration of the TKS spacecraft.
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tkssal7.jpg
350 x 196
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Kosmos 1267/Salyut 7
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Almaz T1
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Almaz T1 radarsat version of Almaz. Note that the solar panels have been enlarged and moved forward to the small-diameter section of the station. With the elimination of the man-tended capability, the aft airlock seems to have been removed. Radar data from the large earth-facing antenna are beamed to earth via Potok geostationary satellites using the flat rectangular antenna mounted on the vertical mast at the front of the station.
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almazt1.jpg
350 x 191
16.7 kb
Credit:
Khrunichev
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Almaz T1
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Almaz-1V
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Almaz-1V unmanned earth resources satellite. Development was authorised in 1986 but the project was abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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almaz1v.jpg
350 x 203
13.9 kb
Credit:
Khrunichev
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Almaz-1V
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