Soyuz 2A

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Mission dates
Mission: Soyuz 2
Spacecraft: Soyuz 7K-OK (P)
( GRAY index  11F615)
serial number 5
Dimensions: 6575 kg
Launcher: Soyuz (GRAY index 11A511)
Call sign: Ястреб (Jastreb - " hawk ")
Crew: planned:
3 at takeoff
1 at landing
Begin: called off
Starting place: Baikonur 31/6
Landing: -
◄ Before / After ►
Soyuz 1
(manned) 		Cosmos 186
(unmanned)
Next manned mission:
Soyuz 3

Soyuz 2A is the unofficial name for a space flight of a Soyuz spacecraft of the original type 7K-OK (P) with the serial number 5, which was canceled in 1967. The flight was intended for a rendezvous, docking and an outboard transfer of two cosmonauts to Soyuz 1 . The flight was canceled at short notice because of the serious technical problems with the Soyuz 1 flight. The Soyuz 2A spaceship also had the same design and manufacturing defects as Soyuz 1, so the cancellation probably saved the lives of the nominated cosmonauts.

In Soviet space travel, it was customary to number only successful missions, so no official name was given for this canceled flight. The designation Soyuz 2 was used in October 1968 for an unmanned passive target object of a likewise failed coupling with Soyuz 3 as an active partner.

Starting point and preparation

More than two years after the last manned space flight of the Soviet Union with Woschod 2 , the new Soyuz spacecraft was to be introduced with a double mission. The first unmanned mission of a 7K-OK on November 28, 1966 under the designation Kosmos 133 with the serial number 2 (S / N 2) failed. The spacecraft could not be stabilized in Earth orbit, while returning to Earth it threatened to go down in China, whereupon a self-destruct mechanism destroyed the landing capsule. During the second launch attempt with the first produced spaceship (S / N 1) on December 14, 1966, the launcher exploded on the launch pad . The next spaceship (S / N 3) was launched on February 7, 1967 under the name Kosmos 140 . Here, too, there were significant malfunctions in the orientation of the spaceship in orbit and the cabin was decompressed during the return because the heat shield burned out due to a manufacturing defect. One crew would have died on this flight. The new type of spaceship thus still had serious shortcomings and was not yet qualified to fly after the failures, but a manned launch was scheduled due to political pressure.

crew

As with the Voskhod flights the team classification has been a point of contention between the head of the cosmonaut training Nikolai Kamanin as the responsible representative of the General Staff of the Air Force and since 1966 under the direction of Vasily Mishin standing central design office for Experimental Engineering (ZKBEM), the former OKB-1 under the direction of Sergei Pavlovich Koroljow .

Kamanin had eight cosmonauts in training for the Soyuz spaceships since the fall of 1965. Four of them had already made a space flight : Yuri Gagarin , Andrijan Nikolajew , Valeri Bykowski and Vladimir Komarow . Two cosmonauts without space experience ( Viktor Gorbatko , Yevgeny Khrunov ) came from the first group of cosmonauts established in 1960 , two others ( Anatoly Voronow and Pyotr Kolodin ) from the second group of the air forces recruited in 1963. Another candidate for a possible nomination as Soyuz commander was Georgi Beregovoi , who was promoted to the cosmonaut group in 1964 because of Marshal Rudenko's promotion . Beregowoi was an excellent test pilot, but was taller and heavier than the other cosmonauts and also exceeded the actual maximum age.

Mishin also tried aggressively to train suitable engineers in his design office as cosmonauts and to have them nominated as Soyuz crews. In May 1966 he selected eight members of the ZKBEM. This group included Sergei Anochin , who was already favored by Korolev , as an experienced test pilot and leader of this group, as well as the later cosmonauts Alexei Yelissejew , Valery Kubasov , Georgi Grechko and Vladislav Volkov , among others . The last four engineers named began training in the training center on October 1, 1966 .

During the controversy over the nominations, it was decided in August 1966 that Soyuz 1 should be commanded by Komarov and Soyuz 2 by Bykowski, with Gagarin and Nikolayev as substitute commanders. Chrunow or Gorbato should then be included in the crew of Soyuz 2. However, the dispute between the military and the ZKBEM over the vacant position of the flight engineer escalated.

The final decision was therefore ultimately made by the responsible department head for defense industry in the Central Committee of the CPSU, Ivan Serbin . From November 16, 1966, the following nominations were valid

  • Soyuz 1 : Komarov; Replacement : Gagarin
  • Soyuz 2A : Bykowski, Chrunow, Jelissejew; Replacement : Nikolajew, Gorbatko, Kubassow.

Astronauts from the first group of cosmonauts with experience in spaceflight would act as commanders, and one of the candidates for the changeover would also come from this group. Komarow had recommended himself as commander of the actively coupling spaceship through excellent training results. He also announced these official nominations at a meeting of the state commission on November 21, 1966, a privilege that Kamanin had always reserved for himself. Chrunow had already been trained as a replacement for Alexei Leonow for the first Soviet spacecraft mission and was therefore nominated for the main crew of Soyuz 2A. Only the third place of the second spaceship should now be occupied by an engineer (Jelissejew or Kubasow). For the time being, Beregovoi no longer had a chance of a space flight off Soyuz 3.

The Soyuz accident 1

Soyuz 1 launched with Vladimir Komarov on board on April 23, 1967. Soyuz 2A launched the day after. Both spaceships were to remain in orbit for four days.

Soyuz 1 was experiencing significant problems in Earth orbit. A solar module had not unfolded and the automatic systems for orientation and attitude control of the spaceship failed. Initially, it was briefly considered that after the start of Soyuz 2A, the cosmonauts Yelissejew and Khrunov should extend the jammed solar module on Soyuz 1 by hand during their outboard transfer, but with the increasing problems in its energy supply and the lack of automatic position control, it was a safe docking maneuver anyway not possible anymore. The start of Soyuz 2A was canceled, the bad weather conditions at the launch site were later officially given as the reason.

Komarov in Soyuz 1 managed to manually align his spaceship for the braking maneuver. In the final phase of the landing, however, the main parachute remained in the container, the reserve parachute could not deploy because the auxiliary parachute had not been thrown off, the landing capsule shattered at around 40 m / s on impact with the ground, killing Komarov.

During an investigation into the accident in Soyuz 1, the Soyuz 2A from the same production lot but not started was subjected to intensive analyzes. The design and manufacturing defects in the main umbrella system were discovered as the cause of the Soyuz 1 crash. A safe landing with the reserve parachute would only have been possible for both spaceships without prior activation of the main system. It is unclear to what extent such a procedure to rescue the crew would have been recognized and used in good time if Soyuz 2A had taken off.

Effects

The Soyuz 1 crash and Komarov's death set Soviet manned space travel back 18 months. The next manned launch took place in October 1968 with Soyuz 3 , for which Beregowoi was nominated.

While Chrunow and Jelissejew continued to train for their exit into orbit, which actually took place in January 1969, Bykowski prepared for a manned flight to the moon, which was never carried out.

Whereabouts of the spaceship

The spaceship was converted, in particular the parachute system was revised. The spaceship launched unmanned on October 30, 1967 as Kosmos 188 and served as a target spaceship for Kosmos 186. The two spaceships could be connected mechanically, but not electrically. Nevertheless, it was the first successful automatic coupling of two spacecraft. When Kosmos 188 landed on November 1, 1967, problems arose with the attitude control, which led to a strong course deviation. The spaceship was therefore blown up over Siberia . Nevertheless, the Soviet media announced that the landing capsule had been recovered.

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