Cosmos 212 and 213

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mission dates
mission Cosmos 212 Cosmos 213
NSSDC ID: 1968-029A 1968-030A
Spaceship: GRAY index  11F615
Soyuz 7K-OK (A) Soyuz 7K-OK (P)
Serial number 8 Serial number 7
Dimensions: 6500 kg
Launcher: Soyuz
(GRAY index 11A511)
Begin: April 14, 1968
10:00 UT		 April 15, 1968
9:34 UT
Starting place: Baikonur 31/6 Baikonur 1/5
Landing: April 19, 1968
8:10 UT		 April 20, 1968
10:11 UT
Flight duration: 4d, 22h, 10min 5d, 0h, 37min
Crew: unmanned
Orbit data (1st cycle)
Rotation time: 88.75 min 89.16 min
Orbit inclination: 51.7 ° 51.4 °
Apogee: 225 km 245 km
Perigee: 186 km 193 km
◄ Before / After ►
Cosmos 188
(unmanned) 		Cosmos 238
(unmanned)
Manned missions:
Soyuz 1 Soyuz 3

Kosmos 212 and Kosmos 213 were two unmanned Soyuz spacecraft that performed automatic coupling in Earth orbit in April 1968.

preparation

A coupling of two manned Soyuz spaceships was planned in April 1967 with Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2A , but was canceled after problems with Soyuz 1. When Soyuz 1 crashed, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed. Another attempt was made in October 1967 with the unmanned spacecraft Kosmos 186 and 188 . The coupling did not succeed completely, but it was the first successful automatic connection between two spacecraft. Due to a few shortcomings, the Soviet Space Administration ordered another unmanned attempt.

begin

Under the code name Kosmos 212 , the first spacecraft took off on April 14, 1968 at 10:00 UTC from launch pad 31 in Baikonur . Shortly before that, consideration had been given to aborting the start because there were signs that a system had failed.

The day after, April 15, 1968 at 09:34 UTC, Kosmos 213 followed from launch pad 1. The entry into orbit was very precise, so that the distance to Kosmos 212 was only 4 kilometers and the rendezvous could be initiated immediately.

This was the seventh and eighth launch of a Soyuz spaceship.

coupling

During the approach in earth orbit, Kosmos 212 took over the active part. To the surprise of the flight control, the coupling took place very quickly and with great precision. Just 20 minutes after the start of Kosmos 212 at 9:54 UTC shortly before leaving the VHF radio range, the distance was only 335 m at a relative speed of approx. 2 m / s. The two spaceships docked at 10:21 UTC. Since this took place over the South Pacific beyond the VHF range of the Soviet ground stations, the flight control could not follow the coupling via the mounted television camera, but had to rely on data that was transmitted via shortwave . After confirmations of a complete coupling from the independently operating receiving stations Alma-Ata , Novosibirsk and Tashkent and immediately afterwards confirmations of two further stations in the flight control center, they trusted this data. In contrast to the mission of Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188 , the coupling was completely successful. Only 14 engine ignitions were necessary for docking during the rendezvous, while a total of 28 ignitions had occurred during the previous rendezvous of Kosmos 186 with the passive partner Kosmos 188 .

The two spaceships remained connected for two and a half orbits and were separated again at 14:11 UTC.

Further course of the flight and landing

In the days that followed, Kosmos 212 made several course corrections using various attitude control systems. A failure of all systems was also simulated, with a cosmonaut aligning the spaceship with hand control. He received the necessary optical orientation via a television signal from the spaceship.

Kosmos 212 landed near Karaganda on April 19 at 08:10 UTC . After landing, the parachutes did not come loose as intended, so that strong winds pulled the return capsule 5 km across the steppe.

Kosmos 213 landed on the following day, April 20, 1968 at 10:11 UTC. Here too, strong winds were blowing at speeds of around 90 km / h. As with Kosmos 212 , the wind got caught in the parachutes, so that this landing capsule was dragged far above the ground. Later it turned out that this was caused by static charges in the parachute ropes, which prevented the lines from becoming detached.

Impact on the Soyuz Program

Although it was proven that the various attitude control systems were now working, the parachutes could still not be trusted. Further changes and another unmanned flight were necessary here. This took place under the designation Kosmos 238 in August 1968. This delayed the planned launch of two manned Soyuz spaceships.

In the American Apollo program , manned missions were still suspended after the Apollo 1 disaster in January 1967. The first manned flight of the new Apollo spacecraft , however, was planned for the autumn of 1968 under the name Apollo 7 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cosmos 212 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog , accessed on May 12, 2017.
  2. ↑ Cosmos 213 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog, accessed on May 12, 2017 (English).