Cosmos 929

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Mission dates
Mission: Cosmos 929
Crew: unmanned
Target: Earth orbit
Start vehicle: Proton K
Start on: July 17, 1977 / Baikonur
Coupling on: -
Decoupling on: -
Re-entry on: 3rd February 1978
Flight duration: 201 days
burns up over: ?
Earth orbits: ?
previous DCS mission :
- 		following TKS mission :
Kosmos 1267

The first Soviet spaceship of the TKS series was launched on July 17, 1977 under the name Kosmos 929 . Originally, the TKS ships, which are quite large at around 20 tons, were planned as space shuttles for transporting people in the military Almaz program (for comparison: the Soyuz spaceships for transporting two to three people weigh less than eight tons).

The ferry TKS-1 was launched unmanned under the designation Kosmos 929 to test the airworthiness of the system. This included performing various flight maneuvers in space and testing the “Merkur” return capsule intended for the crew. Docking with a space station was not tested on the first flight. After a 30-day flight, the Merkur landing capsule was separated from the TKS module and returned to Earth on August 17, 1977. The remainder of the spacecraft was subjected to further tests and remained in orbit until February 3 of the next year.

The Kosmos 929 mission represents an essential basis for the subsequent missions of the TKS spaceships. However, manned flights were never carried out with TKS. On the basis of the TKS ferry, modules were later developed for permanent stay at the Mir space stations ( e.g. Kwant-2 ) and ISS ( e.g. Sarja ).