Cosmos 186 and 188

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Mission dates
mission Cosmos 186 Cosmos 188
NSSDC ID: 1967-105A 1967-107A
Spaceship: GRAY index  11F615
Soyuz 7K-OK (A) Soyuz 7K-OK (P)
Serial number 6 Serial number 5
Dimensions: 6530 kg 6530 kg
Launcher: Soyuz
(GRAY index 11A511)
Begin: October 27, 1967
09:30 UT		 October 30, 1967
8:09 UT
Starting place: Baikonur 31/6 Baikonur 1/5
Landing: October 31, 1967
8:20 UT		 November 2nd, 1967
09:10 UT
Flight duration: 3d, 22h, 50 min 3d, 01h, 01 min
Crew: unmanned
Orbit data (1st cycle)
Rotation time: 88.6 min 88.7 min
Orbit inclination: 51.6 ° 51.7 °
Apogee: 212 km 247 km
Perigee: 172 km 180 km
◄ Before / After ►
Soyuz 1
(manned) 		Cosmos 212
(unmanned)
The following manned mission:
Soyuz 3

Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188 were two unmanned Soyuz spaceships that carried out the first automatic coupling in space history on October 30, 1967 .

preparation

The first manned flight of a Soyuz spaceship led to a disaster in April 1967. Soyuz 1 had so many shortcomings that the mission had to be abandoned. The parachutes failed on landing and the cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed. Thereafter, design changes were made to the Soyuz spaceship. In order not to endanger life again, an unmanned test flight should prove the reliability of the spaceship type. Two unmanned Soyuz spaceships were supposed to rendezvous in earth orbit and possibly dock. Landing was also an important part of the mission, as attitude control and parachutes had previously caused major problems.

One of the two planned spaceships, the one with the serial number 5, was previously intended for the manned space flight Soyuz 2A in April 1967, but was then not used due to the problems of Soyuz 1.

The flight took place during the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution . A manned flight to the moon was originally planned for this anniversary, but problems with the Soyuz spacecraft and the Proton rocket had led to ever greater delays.

begin

Kosmos 186 took off on October 27 at 09:30 UT from launch pad 1 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome . Two days later, the orbit was raised slightly. Three days later, on October 30, 1967 at 08:12 UT, Kosmos 188 followed . After reaching Earth orbit, the two spaceships were 15 miles apart.

coupling

Kosmos 186 had the Igla system , which should enable automatic approaching and coupling. Since the ground stations were limited to the territory of the Soviet Union, the spaceships could not be remotely controlled. In the first attempt, Kosmos 186, which took over the active role during docking, flew by at a distance of 900 meters, the second attempt was successful. The coupling took place at 09:20 UT over the South Atlantic outside the range of the Soviet ground stations. Due to a lateral movement of the spaceships in the last phase of the approach, the coupling mechanism did not fully engage. As a result, the coupling was not complete, so that the spaceships were connected mechanically, but not electrically.

Kosmos 186 had ignited the engines 28 times during the rendezvous and, with a burn time of 200 seconds, had consumed considerably more fuel than intended.

At about 12:50 UT the two spaceships were decoupled again. Since this happened over the Soviet Union and a television camera was installed on board, the flight control was able to experience the maneuver live.

landing

Cosmos 186 landed on October 31st at 08:20 UT. However (as with Soyuz 1) there were problems with the position control, which resulted in very long delays (7 to 8 g instead of 3 to 4 g).

The Kosmos 188 brake rocket detonated on November 1st at 07:03 UT. The attitude control was also imprecise during this re-entry, as a result of which the spaceship deviated greatly from its course. Around 7:30 am, Kosmos 188 was blown up over Siberia . Nevertheless, the Soviet media announced that the landing capsule had been recovered.

Impact on the Soyuz Program

The mission proved that it is possible to approach and couple spaceships fully automatically. In this way, it would also be feasible in the future to bring large payloads into orbit in smaller parts and only assemble them in earth orbit. This means that large rockets can be dispensed with. However, this double mission also encountered three major problems: the increased fuel consumption, the incomplete coupling and the poor alignment before reentry.

The management of the Soviet space flight then planned another unmanned double launch in April 1968 with Kosmos 212 and 213 before they wanted to venture into a manned flight of a Soyuz spaceship in May or June.

The flight operations of the American Apollo program were still interrupted after the Apollo 1 disaster in January 1967. The next unmanned launch took place on November 9, 1967, with Apollo 4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cosmos 186 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog , accessed on May 13, 2017.
  2. ↑ Cosmos 188 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog, accessed on May 13, 2017.
  3. ^ Asif A. Siddiqi: Challenge To Apollo: The Soviet Union and The Space Race, 1945-1974. NASA History Division, Washington DC 2000, NASA SP-2000-4408, p. 626. "The Kosmos-186/188 flight was timed to occur a week before the fiftieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution. It was a poor substitute for a piloted circumlunar mission, but it was a minor advance for a space program beleaguered by failures and catastrophes ".
  4. ^ Asif A. Siddiqi: Challenge To Apollo: The Soviet Union and The Space Race, 1945-1974. NASA History Division, Washington DC 2000, NASA SP-2000-4408, p. 609. "Throughout 1966-67, the most important goal for the Soviets had been the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution in November 1967 with a circumlunar flight of two cosmonauts in the L1 spacecraft ".