Soyuz 22

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Mission dates
Mission: Soyuz 22
COSPAR-ID : 1976-093A
Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-TM ( GRAY index  11F615A12)
serial number 74
Dimensions: 6510 kg
Launcher: Soyuz U (GRAY index 11A511U)
Call sign: Ястреб (Jastreb - " hawk ")
Crew: 2
Begin: September 15, 1976, 09:48:30  UTC
Starting place: Baikonur 1/5
Landing: September 23, 1976 7:40:47 AM UTC
Landing place: 150 km northwest of Zelinograd
Flight duration: 7d 21h 50min
Earth orbits: 127
Rotation time : 89.3 min
Orbit inclination : 64.8 °
Apogee : 296 km
Perigee : 185 km
◄ Before / After ►
Soyuz 21
(manned) 		Soyuz 23
(manned)
Soyuz 22 - motif from a Soviet postage stamp

Soyuz 22 is the mission designation for the flight of a Soviet Soyuz spaceship that started on September 15, 1976 . It was the 39th flight in the Soviet Soyuz program. After the Apollo-Soyuz test project , the Soviet Union had the unused spacecraft backup Soyuz 22 left. Since it differed considerably from the standard version for supplying the Salyut space stations, a special mission was chosen instead of converting the spacecraft.

crew

Main team

For this mission, cosmonauts were selected who were not specially trained to stay on board a space station. Bykowski was a member of the first cosmonaut group of the Soviet Union and had already been in space with Vostok 5 14 years earlier . Aksyonov had only joined the cosmonaut corps in 1973 and had not previously served in any replacement or support team.

Substitute team

The support team consisted of Leonid Ivanovich Popov and Boris Dmitrijewitsch Andrejew .

Mission overview

The chosen orbit (orbit inclination 64.75 °) was unusual for a Soyuz spaceship. Such an orbit has been since the Voskhod no longer used -Flügen. The reason for this was to achieve maximum coverage of the GDR territory. Soyuz 22 was equipped with the 175 kg multi-spectral camera MKF 6 at the point where the coupling socket was normally located on Soyuz spaceships . This came from VEB Carl Zeiss Jena . About 2500 recordings in the visible and infrared spectral range were made of large parts of the USSR and the entire GDR territory.

Two orbit adjustments were made, both within 24 hours of launch. After the first orbit correction during the fourth orbit, the orbit height was between 280 km and 250 km. The second ignition of the engine during the sixteenth orbit resulted in an almost circular orbit between 257 km and 251 km altitude.

The official task was to review and improve the methods of earth investigation in the interest of the economies of the USSR and the GDR. The camera used had six lenses - four for visible and two for infrared light. A 165 km wide strip of the earth's surface was examined in each case. This means that an area of ​​half a million square kilometers could be recorded within ten minutes. The MKF 6 enabled a combination of photogrammetry and spectrometry . The objective focal length was 125 mm, the observed spectral ranges 460–500 nm, 520–560 nm, 580–620 nm, 640–680 nm, 700–740 nm, 780–860 nm, those on films with a format of 56 mm x 81 mm were recorded.

As a side note, it should be noted that the NATO maneuver "Exercise Teamwork" was taking place in Norway at the same time . Due to the orbit position deviating from the orbit of the Almaz stations, large parts of Norway were flown over, so that pictures of the maneuvering area (estimated resolution 10–20 meters) may have been made. No statements are available on this.

The first test photos were taken of the Baikal Amur Mainline that was being built. On the third day, the cosmonauts photographed an area from Siberia to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the northern USSR.

On the fourth day, the crew examined the earth's atmosphere and took pictures of the moon rising and setting as they circled the earth. This also allowed them to see how clean the windows of the spaceship were. More photos followed from Central Asia , Kazakhstan and Siberia with a focus on geological and glaciological formations as well as agriculture.

On the fifth day, Azerbaijan , the southern Urals , the BAM and western Siberia were again the focus. At the same time, a plane was flying over the areas with a second camera. The recordings made were later compared with each other.

The Soviet news agency TASS reported on the sixth day of the mission that pictures were taken of areas that had never been the object of space photography, such as parts of Siberia, the northern and European USSR.

During the last day of the mission, the focus was on the GDR. An Antonov An-30 aerial aircraft flew over the area with an identical camera like the Soyuz 22 had. Furthermore, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Eastern Siberia and southwestern parts of the Soviet Union were photographed again in order to be able to compare them with earlier photographs.

In the end, the crew had to take the camera apart to get to the filters (blue, green, orange, red, purple and black). The filters were needed to be able to calibrate the recordings later. The expansion took several hours.

In addition to the earth recordings, the crew carried out a series of biological experiments during the week-long mission. A small centrifuge was on board, for example, which was used to study how plants grow under artificial gravity. They also studied the effect of cosmic rays passing through the eye. This effect was first noticed by Apollo astronauts when they were resting. They saw bright flashes when they closed their eyes. This was caused by the cosmic rays actually passing through the eye. Soyuz 22 also had a small aquarium on board so that the crew could follow the growth of the fish.

After a highly successful mission, the cosmonauts took the films out of the camera and stowed them with other items that were supposed to return to Earth in the return module. Entry into the earth's atmosphere and landing took place without any problems.

The crew had photographed a total of 30 areas and made 2,400 images in each spectral channel. None of the tapes were faulty and all recordings were of good quality. It was said that the results would benefit agriculture, mapping , mineralogy and hydrology .

Others

In October 1976 Bykowski and Aksjonow visited the GDR. They visited u. a. the manufacturer of the MKF 6 Carl Zeiss Jena, the Fritz Heckert machine tool combine in what was then Karl-Marx-Stadt and the Sachsenring automobile plant in Zwickau .

See also

Web links and sources

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Soyuz Apollo Test Project: What Do You Do With A Spare Spacecraft? Retrieved May 3, 2013
  2. ↑ www.nd-archiv.de, edition of October 16, 1976, accessed on March 7, 2018