Cosmos 140

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Mission dates
Mission: Cosmos 140
COSPAR-ID : 1967-009A
Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-OK (P) ( GRAU index  11F615)
serial number 3
Dimensions: 6,450 kg
Launcher: Soyuz (GRAY index 11A511)
Crew: no
Begin: February 7, 1967, 03:20 UTC
Starting place: Baikonur 1/5
Landing: February 9, 1967, 19:67 UTC
Rotation time : 88.27 min
Orbit inclination : 51.66 °
Apogee : 218 km
Perigee : 165 km
◄ Before / After ►
Cosmos 133
(unmanned) 		Soyuz 1
(manned)
Previous manned mission:
Vozhod 2

Kosmos 140 was the code name for an unmanned test flight of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft from February 7th to 9th, 1967 .

preparation

After the first copy of the Soyuz spaceship ( Kosmos 133 ) had to be blown up in November 1966 when it was re-entered incorrectly , and the second copy exploded on the launch pad in December, the leadership of the Soviet space program decided that the next Soyuz launch would be an unmanned single flight should be. If successful, this would be followed by a manned double flight with rendezvous and docking.

Flight history

The launch took place on February 7, 1967 at 03:20 UT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome . The spaceship reached earth orbit without any problems. Correct orientation and stabilization of the spaceship was not possible due to a faulty star sensor . The sun-synchronous mode, in which the solar cells could be constantly aligned to the sun, could not be established, as a result the batteries discharged. In addition, too much fuel was consumed by the attitude control system.

Since the spaceship could not be correctly aligned when the brake was ignited the day after next, the descent was steeper than planned, which shifted the landing location westward. While in space, the air escaped from the return capsule when it separated from the orbital module. Upon re-entry, a hole measuring 30 × 100 mm burned through the heat shield at the location of a temperature sensor .

The parachute system worked according to plan and the spaceship landed softly on the ice cover of the frozen Aral Sea - about 3 km from the shore. Since the capsule was still very hot from the reentry, it slowly melted through the ice and sank. Divers had to retrieve the landing capsule from a depth of 10 meters.

Impact on the Soyuz Program

A manned orbit around the moon as part of the Zond (UR-500K / L1) program was still planned for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution , which is coming up in nine months . As a result of the unsuccessful Soyuz test flights, only two Soyuz spaceships were available for a planned rendezvous maneuver. In another unmanned test flight, this spectacular mission that could be used for propaganda purposes would have had to be canceled after the Apollo 1 disaster . Despite the breakdowns that occurred, the management of the Soviet space program therefore decided that no further unmanned test flight was necessary because one crew would have solved all the problems that had occurred. The rendezvous of Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2 in space was therefore planned for April as the next mission . Two major deficiencies that led to the crash of the manned spacecraft Soyuz 1 that followed, had not occurred during this test flight. There was no contamination of the main umbrella container in the autoclave by penetrating binders. In addition, the decompression of the cabin led to the elimination of the otherwise considerable pressure difference between the cabin and outside atmosphere, which can compress the parachute container located in the pressurized cabin and open from a height of approx. 10 km and thus prevent the tightly packed main parachute from being pulled out. The main parachute unfolded u. a. because of the decompression, which is fatal for a possible crew. The irresponsible decision of those responsible to continue the program manned led directly to the catastrophic mission of Soyuz 1.

Comparison with the US space program

A few days before the launch of Kosmos 140, on January 27, 1967, NASA had suffered a severe setback. Three astronauts were killed in a fire on the Apollo-1 spacecraft during a ground test, which meant that all manned flights were suspended for the time being. Nevertheless, it remained NASA's declared intention to carry out a manned moon landing by the end of 1969. At the time, however, it was uncertain whether this goal would be achieved. Not only did the Apollo spacecraft have to be fundamentally overhauled, the development of the lunar module was also progressing more slowly than planned.

Despite the setback with Kosmos 140, the ZKBEM in the Soviet Union planned the first coupling of two spacecraft and the first team exchange in Earth orbit for the spring of 1967. These activities were essential to their slow-moving manned moon landing program . In addition, it was hoped to book further first performances. At the same time, they worked intensively with the ZKBM on the Zond orbit project , in which a modified command and return capsule from the Soyuz spacecraft was used. As part of this project, the first unmanned launch of this spacecraft version under the code name Kosmos 146 with a Proton launcher (UR-500K / D) was achieved on March 10, 1967 . Clear information as to whether the return of the spaceship was planned for this maiden flight is still not available.

So in the spring of 1967 it was still unclear whether the Soviet Union or the USA would make the first manned flight to the moon.

See also

Web links